Here's the second Enid Blyton book read so far, this time split between 2 days. The Rilloby Fair Mystery very much focuses on a fair, and as fairs are constantly one the move from one place to another I was curious to see which locations Blyton would mention. Disappointingly neither place mentioned logically links to a real life setting. However, there are a few random links which I will soon be exploring.
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| Cover of the book. The first pages were torn out, but I'd guess this Armada edition is from the late 60s or 70s period. |
En route, the two end up sharing a train compartment, HOWEVER, neither is familiar with the other. Snubby ends up making a fancy plot about a Green Hands Gang, which the old man believes, and this further adds to the awkwardness when the two meet again at the house.
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| A busy busy household |
It is unusual for Uncle Robert to visit when the children are on their holidays and at home. Alas, a theft at Chelie Manor, where he was staying, made him prefer the noisy din of dogs, monkeys, and the presence of Snubby. Of course, he didn't know then that he would be accompanied by dogs, monkeys and Snubby! 'Chelie' sounded more French than English, and my guess as fairly close, as the is a Chélieu in France. I must admit that Chélieu sounds much more finished, but then it wouldn't fit the English setting.
It seems that a gang was targeting buildings housing old documents, such as letters, or maps, and steeling this. One group of items stolen were maps of the county of Lincolnshire, which is factual enough. Don't mind the map below, you can be sure that those stolen from the collection were very elaborately drawn and probably date hundred of years back.
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| Fun fact - Lincolnshire spans the North, Midlands, AND south of England! |
What's particularly peculiar about these robberies is that the thief manages to get into locked places!
Coincidently at that time a fair was also at Pilbury. This name sound extremely British, and I was surprised there is no place under this name. It sounds familiar, and may have been inspired by the brand 'Pillsbury', an American brand of baking and dough products.
This is where Diana makes the startling observation that wherever the fair is, a robbery seems to follow...This is also were Snubby, with minimal evidence, informs Great Uncle Robert that the next robbery will be in Ricklesham. The name is quite similar to Icklesham village in East Sussex. Apart from that, there is minimal connection to a place in real life.
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| Icklesham is very close to Winchelsea and Hastings. It is located in one of my favourite areas of the southern English coast. |
As it so happens, Ricklesham House is the next to be targeted, so Snubby finds himself in a pickle. With Great Uncle Robert on his tail, Snubby nicely niftily gets out of the way and spends a day or two out of the house making errands.
This was quite a long list, all these places where mentioned in the first few chapters. The next place Rilloby, is were the fair moves to, and where the scene settles. Rilloby has no real connection, and does sound quite made up. All the consecutive events happening occur either between the Lynton's house, the fair grounds and very interesting castle.
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| Snubby is caught snooping around the caravans |
Marloes Castle - there is actually a Marloes village in Wales, with St Brides Castle nearby. Marloes village seems to be more of hamlet, but has land stretching much further. This is, in fact, a Marloes Penisula and Marloes Sands.
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| Marloes |
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| Marloes sands, Wales |
In the story, the castle is near Rilloby, and not named after a village of the same name.
All the little random connections mentioned are very small villages, and I doubt if Blyton even knew of such a place as Chélieu when she was writing this book. I have no intention of revealing how the storlyline develops, but it makes a great read!
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