23 colour photos, 60 black and white photos. For Enid Blyton, Old Thatch was "a wonderful place to write stories in." From her 400 year old home to the surrounding Thames Valley, where she set her most celebrated mystery series, this book is a gateway to some captivating places. Along river pathways and leafy lanes, around stately manors, snow-covered churches and country pubs, its journey will delight Enid Blyton at Old Thatch is NOT another analysis of why her books still sell in their millions. Nor is it a politically-correct critique of golliwogs and the supposedly hidden lives of Noddy and Big Ears. This book is a celebration of place, of a beautiful village along the banks of the Thames 40 miles west of London, where Enid Blyton lived in a 400 year-old thatched house called "Old Thatch". Step back in time with Enid's daughter, Gillian Baverstock, to a childhood she remembered fondly. "Old Thatch" is now open to the public in spring and summer and its owners, Jacky and David Hawthorne have one of the best award-winning gardens in Britain. Enid Blyton also set one of her most exciting children's series, the Mystery stories, in the village and surrounding areas such as Marlow, Taplow and the ancient woodland, Burnham Beeches. Enid Blyton at Old Thatch is about escapism with a touch of history and fantasy. It is also a great travel guide to one of England's most green and pleasant landscapes. Enjoy it - life is too short to be serious all the time! "It looks like a fairytale house, bit it is real and wonderful." "Old Thatch experiences the best of the four seasons in style - riverside fun in summer, leafy autumns, cosy firesides on wintry days and spring blossoms." "Even many Bourne end residents who number themselves as Blyton fans do not realise that the author set her best series of children's novels in their village and surrounds." "Many of the Find-Outer settings were part of the early childhood landscape of Gillian, Enid Blyton's daughter." "Stepping back into the Find-Outers' world also means walking beside the Thames river path, catching the London train, boating, exploring a stately mansion such as Cliveden near Taplow or discovering the charms of nearby villages." "Many places close to Bourne end open pathways to other writers who lived in the general vicinity. These include Miton, Thomas Gray, G.K. Chesterton, Kenneth Grahame and the Shelleys." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tess Livingstone is the biographer of Australia's Cardinal George Pell, and the edi