THE DESTINATION104 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | JULY 2019
PCPEXCLUSIVE/ALAMY/INDIAPICTURE(BOAT)FACING PAGE:ALLOU/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES(HORSE)of honey-gold sand popular with both
families and naturists. It was a favourite
of Enid and Kenneth too. The couple
returned up to four times a year to Knoll
House Hotel overlooking breathtaking
views of Studland Bay. Blyton was a
creature of habit, she always took Room
40 and Table Three at dinner. Kenneth
owned Isle of Purbeck Golf Club nearby,
and both the club and the caddy made it
to her stories.
That afternoon we left giggling
children with muddy feet rock pooling
around Dancing Ledge further west
towards Kimmeridge and pushed inland
into the countryside. We left the car at
the coastal town of Swanage and took
the train, a steam train. You can cycle
too, but arriving at Corfe village on a
steam train is half the story—the better
half. And like almost all of Dorset which
seems to have grown out of her books
and not the other way round, the steam
train to Corfe Castle has survived too.
But it nearly never did.
In 1972, 85 years after Swanage
Railway made its maiden journey, the
track was closed, stripped and sold. Four
years later fighting a vote in the local council the residents won
back the right to rebuild their old Victorian railway. Every little
detail was reconstructed from scratch—track, locomotives,
carriages. It took 30 years. We arrived at Corfe Castle but
lingered at the platform. The station, yellow and green, retreats
into the pages of a Blyton adventure. Tall aluminium milk
churns line up against the wall as if in an assembly queue. Next
to them stacked high on a railway trolley are smart vintage
leather suitcases, the likes you take to boarding school. The
walls are covered in Victorian posters announcing the arrival
of the Purbeck Breezer. The summer holidays had begun.
Corfe—the inspiration for Kirrin village in Famous Five—
rises above the surrounding green and huddles around a
square, thick with pubs and shops selling everything from
books, ice creams and cream-tea. I spotted Noddy peering out
of a window and go in. The shop was so busy, there was barely
room to move. I turned a corner and there it was, a wall packed
full of Blytons: Mallory Towers both old and new, Noddy and
the Famous Five. Outside Kirrin village buzzes on. I had a
castle to climb.
Corfe Castle had stood for a 1,000 years before Blyton first
arrived here in 1931. But it’s what happened after that made
for a good story. As I wandered around the ‘broken archways,
tumbledown towers and ruined walls,’ I realised that Blyton
changed nothing of the details. She simply took the castle and
pushed it out to sea. I kicked off my shoes and lay back on the
grass. Above me hung the ‘biggest, highest, widest sky I’ve ever
seen. It’s a happy place.’ I closed my eyes.Poole is an
excellent base to
explore the Isle of
Purbeck, and its
quay (top) is just
the place to watch
tall ships, fishing
vessels and
luxury yachts sail
by. Facing page:
A tumbledown,
1,000-year-
old ruin, Corfe
Castle was once a
royal palace and
fortress. It is now
a favourite haunt
of children and
adults alike.