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Post by Claire on Oct 7, 2010 14:18:59 GMT 1
The other day was updating my 'area' list and it struck not the first time that there seem to be very few books set specifically in the South East of England. Loads further west - New Forest, Dartmoor, Exmoor, etc and also Scotland and Wales but apart from some set in London, the Monica Edwards books and couple of Primrose Cummings ones (The Great Horses and Four Rode Home) I can't think of any books that refer specifically to a South East area. I think quite a few of the PT books may have been set in the home counties or perhaps Oxfordshire but cant think of any that mention any places in those areas. (Mind you could be my useless memory) I've always wondered exactly where the Noel and Henry series was set for example.
If anyone can think of any books set in South East areas of England, please can you post them here.
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libby
Stablehand
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Post by libby on Oct 7, 2010 14:46:28 GMT 1
Hi Claire. Thanks for a brilliant website. I'm doubtless being thick but I can't see how to create a new topic. I'm desperately seeking the author/titles of a pony series which I read in the 80s. The protagonist was a rider and also an amateur detective, whose name began with 'L', possibly Linda, and she lived in - I think - New Mexico. Her name was certainly Spanish-sounding. She lived/worked on a stud ranch - I seem to recall owned by her parents. There was a whole series of mysteries, and she rode - again I think - a Palomino. Any clues? And can you help me post this as a proper request? Thanks so much! Libby
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Post by Claire on Oct 7, 2010 15:01:21 GMT 1
Hi Libby and welcome! Always nice to see a new face...well you know what I mean! ;D To start a new thread click on which ever category you want to put it in ie 'pony books' then when that page opens look on the right hand side a little way down the page and you shoud see a link for 'new thread' click on this and it will open a box where you can pop in your message. When its done click on the 'post message' icon at the bottom. Back to your books request the series you are thinking of sounds like the Linda Craig series which was written under the name of Ann Sheldon. There were two sets of series, an older and more modern one. More information below: annsheldon.ponymadbooklovers.co.uk/Hope this helps!
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Post by kunuma on Oct 7, 2010 16:46:56 GMT 1
Do the ME books count??
Also, having just read Puzzle of Ponies, which I liked a lot better than when they are set in the school, it struck me that the show was really Royal Cornwall in Wadebridge - does anyone else who has read it think it was in Cornwall/Devon or am I way off base?
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Post by exmoorfan on Oct 7, 2010 19:15:38 GMT 1
Claire as Kunuma said surely the ME count. Aldo wasn't four rode Home from the south east.?
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Post by Claire on Oct 7, 2010 19:35:45 GMT 1
Yes Exmoorfan, Four Rode Home was set in in south east as they go on the ride to Romney Marsh. I have it noted in the original post along with the ME books - I would count them as South East, in fact everything west of about Portsmouth I would class as SE.
I have a feeling that the Georgie series was set in Devon, possibly Somerset. When her mother goes to visit her grandparents it says they live in Cornwall and it was less than a morning's drive to get there.I think Dorset is also mentioned. One of the books does take place in Wales too.
I'm sure there must also be books set on the South Downs but apart from the Moon Stallion can't think of any off hand.
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Post by haffyfan on Oct 7, 2010 20:12:12 GMT 1
where were JPT's moors books set? They were coastal but can't remember if an area was given.
I think an awful lot of books are not specifically set anywhere as then anything goes i guess and no one can come back saying - but they don't...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2010 20:30:59 GMT 1
I've just read The Vanishing Pony and Dorset is definately mentioned
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Post by Claire on Oct 7, 2010 20:59:04 GMT 1
The moors books were set on unspecified moors, exmoor would suggest the coast bit but other things point to bodmin or possibly dartmoor so probably an amalgamation of all 3. But even so still the south west - even if imaginary lol.
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Post by foxglove on Oct 29, 2010 16:19:46 GMT 1
I have a vague idea that Fly-By-Night was set in East Anglia/South East, but I could be wrong. I don't think it is named as such- just the way the countryside was described.
I think The Ponies Of Bunts which I read recently is set in Sussex.
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Post by fizz on Oct 31, 2010 20:21:07 GMT 1
What about some of Gillian Baxter's? The Bracken stables series are set in Surrey & Ribbons & Rings is set in Buckinghamshire.
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Post by Claire on Oct 31, 2010 20:46:35 GMT 1
Thanks for those suggestions. Hmm never thought about Gillian Baxters. Yes, I think Fly by night and some of her others maybe are in East Anglia.
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Post by rrosie on Nov 20, 2010 8:51:53 GMT 1
is Kent the South East?
Romney Marsh.
The Punchbowl is definitely Surrey because it was where Monica Edwards actually lived.
Chill Valley Foxhounds - Long Chill Farm is only 50 miles from London so that should qualify, I get the feeling that the area is quite affluent and so wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't based near the Chilterns.
The Noel and Henrys are based in "Barsetshire" again the feel is Oxfordshire, I think you are right.
Rrx
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Post by Claire on Nov 20, 2010 12:46:20 GMT 1
Yep Kent is deffo South East! Thanks for all the suggestions so far folks. Will be having an overhaul of the area section soon to include it.
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Post by fizz on Nov 23, 2010 19:12:36 GMT 1
Think the Woodbury series is probably in Wiltshire: Stud farm. downs, racing stables, white horse & the series of locks. Does anyone know if that Poet of Rural Life's house exists?
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Post by ginslinger on May 15, 2016 17:56:02 GMT 1
Resurrecting this, I have been trying to work out where Barsetshire is and I think it is North Downs probably Oxfordshire Berkshire borders where the PTs grew up. Possibly just into Surrey if the Hog's Hill is meant to be the Hog's Back. Mrs Radcliffe commutes several days a week to London (and maybe the Morrisons' and Dick's fathers) and and Henry and the Holbrookes go up for the day also. It also ties in plausibly with the timing for their trip down to the New Forest area of Hampshire in Pony Club Team. Radney is harder to place.
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Post by Claire on May 15, 2016 22:45:27 GMT 1
Well thought out Ginslinger. You make some convincing arguments for that area. It's the part of the country I know the least about. I've been to most places loads of times but the South East hardly at all. I actually like pony books that are set in real places like Exmoor, especially when they use the real place names.
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Post by ginslinger on May 16, 2016 17:43:30 GMT 1
There is a series I read some off which was set where I grew up which was very odd but in a good way. The Stephen Mogridge ones. I would like to read again but I think they were a bit expensive when I looked. And not entirely pony stories. I know the South West and Warwickshire best. JP-T writes so confidently and affectionately about her landscapes that I think she was using a familiar one. The Hidden Horse also refers to North Barsetshire Downs I think but gives the feeling of being more Surrey.
I get far too interested in this kind of thing.
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Post by Claire on May 16, 2016 19:35:06 GMT 1
I've read a couple of the Mogridge ones. They are set in the New Forest aren't they? Yeah a pity some of the titles in the series are hard to get/expensive but a few are a lot easier and cheaper. If you look under the collector's info section on my Stephen Mogridge web page (link below) it has a little bit about which ones are rare, easy to find, etc: stephenmogridge.ponymadbooklovers.co.uk/
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Post by ginslinger on May 16, 2016 20:52:51 GMT 1
Thanks. At least I have the comfort of knowing I never owned them - the school library had several presumably partly because of the local connection. It amused me because the town I lived in was functional, not one of the pretty little towns actually in the Forest but I imagine there has been more change in the area since I read them than in the years between their writing and my reading them.
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Post by susanb on May 16, 2016 20:59:44 GMT 1
JUST finished collecting the Mogridge New Forest books....last to find was Vagabond in dj....not the best of condition, tatty dj, but after all these years, I don't care!
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Post by ginslinger on May 17, 2016 19:39:54 GMT 1
Well done!! Always satisfying to complete a set. I track down the old editions of the Noel and Henry books when I realised from the discussion here they had been significantly edited and even though Pony Club Camp seems not to have been I am still glad I have them all in hardback. The djs are missing or tatty but the books were made to last and I want them to read not as an investment...so I didn't worry too much about that or getting the first printing
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Post by Claire on May 17, 2016 23:23:23 GMT 1
JUST finished collecting the Mogridge New Forest books....last to find was Vagabond in dj....not the best of condition, tatty dj, but after all these years, I don't care! Ooh well done Susan. That's the only one I don't have a picture of so if you ever have a free moment to photo or scan the book for me it will be hugely appreciated! Oh btw did you ever track down a copy of his pony book under the Jill Steven's name, Ice on the Lawn - I remember us discussing it a little while back.
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Post by ginslinger on May 18, 2016 20:22:02 GMT 1
I have just got four of my latest binge - 2 Mary Gervaise and the Grange is explicitly said to be on the Hampshire Dorset borders but that has moved since the books were written in the 1973 boundary changes )I used to live just on the Hampshire side of the new border which runs pretty much down the Avon valley from tbe Wiltshire border near Fordingbridge to between Highcliffe on the coast. However it used to pass round Christchurch and Bournemouth. This means that towns like Wimborne which are now deeper in Dorset were on the borders. I may be able to pinpoint further on rereading. Hampshire is often classed as South East even though in many ways we are just plain south!! But having lived in Portsmouth as well as Dorset border I would say that the New Forest bit is South West and the other side of Southampton and the north bits are more South East. Geographically as well as culturally. As for the Barset ones.. I was reading Goodbye to Hounds today and wherever the imagined location, it is clear to me that both Josephine and Christine are referencing a landscape they both knew and loved well. The ride to the Limes is reminiscent of the hacking routes in the Barset novels, a roman road, a Nut walk.... the stables at the Limes and Folly Court are very similar too....
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Post by susanb on May 19, 2016 2:25:20 GMT 1
JUST finished collecting the Mogridge New Forest books....last to find was Vagabond in dj....not the best of condition, tatty dj, but after all these years, I don't care! Ooh well done Susan. That's the only one I don't have a picture of so if you ever have a free moment to photo or scan the book for me it will be hugely appreciated! Oh btw did you ever track down a copy of his pony book under the Jill Steven's name, Ice on the Lawn - I remember us discussing it a little while back. Will try to scan this weekend, Claire....keep your fingers crossed....I only have Photoshop on my old, virtually dead laptop. Have a new laptop, but not sure how I'm going to address the photoshop issue on it...they won't sell you the actual software any longer...they want you to rent it! Re Ice on the Lawn....I've been keeping an eye out for a nice copy cheap, but haven't landed one yet...have been trying to be good on the book buying front, after that wild splurge on the five job lots! I've only been making exceptions in those "last book in the series" scenarios!
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Post by Charlotte on Jun 8, 2016 19:23:50 GMT 1
Tessa and Some Ponies is set in a semi-rural suburb in Outer London/Surrey, it says so.
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Post by ginslinger on Jul 8, 2016 17:57:21 GMT 1
I have just got an old edition of Plenty of Ponies and Lewis goes into Oxford on the bus. So that probably makes it South East though it is actually about slap bang in the middle. My memory is not as good as I thought since because of the flooding I had an idea it was set in the fens.. but I think I may have got it confused with a completely different book (possibly The Nine Tailors by DL Sayers)
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Post by susanb on Jul 8, 2016 18:46:18 GMT 1
Love Dorothy Sayers....my favorite is Murder Must Advertise (everyone I've got to read her has either that or Nine Tailors as their favorite, always one of the two!)
Claire, just realized I hadn't heard from you....did you get the cover scan I sent of New Forest Vagabonds ok?
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Post by ginslinger on Apr 10, 2017 14:42:24 GMT 1
I have recently read Swallow Summer by KM Peyton and I think that is probably set in the South East maybe Berkshire or North Hampshire - the chalk downs snd racing stables suggest it as well as Rowan's father's long commute to London on the motorway. They also visit Stoke Mandeville hospital which is in Aylesbury without it being a major expedition.
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Post by Claire on Apr 13, 2017 19:37:40 GMT 1
Well spotted ginslinger. It's ages since I read the Swallow books. Must be due a re-read soon.
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