BBC programme explores Enid Blyton’s links to Dorset (From Dorset Echo)
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BBC programme explores Enid Blyton’s links to Dorset
2:30pm Friday 15th June 2012 in Local News By Martin Lea
Countryfile presenter Matt Baker on an Enid Blyton adventure at Corfe Castle with local children Ben White, Molly Britten and Emily Ford
A POPULAR TV programme is to focus on Purbeck.
The BBC’s Countryfile team visited the area for a special programme which will be screened this Sunday.
The Isle of Purbeck’s glorious coastline and rolling hills will be explored by presenters Matt Baker, Ellie Harrison, Adam Henson and Katie Knapman.
Matt Baker hopped on a steam train courtesy of the Swanage Railway to discover the links between Enid Blyton’s Famous Five children’s adventure stories and the area to mark the 70th anniversary of the books.
Dressed in 1940s clothes for the cameras, Matt and three local children – Ben White, Molly Britten and Emily Ford as well as Taz the dog – took a trip on a steam train from Norden to Corfe before the group explored the picturesque village.
Swanage Railway commercial manager Martin Payne said: “It was an amazing co-incidence that Matt Baker’s train was pulled by a Victorian M7 class steam locomotive designed in 1897, the year of Enid Blyton’s birth.”
He said the railway is taking part in a Famous Five Adventure Trail for children running throughout the summer and features a mysterious clue somewhere on the line.
Also in the Countryfile programme, Ellie Harrison is on the hunt for reptiles in Purbeck including the elusive smooth snake and Adam Henson joins a kayak expedition off Kimmeridge courtesy of Dorset Wildlife Trust.
Countryfile can be seen on Sunday, June 17 at 6.30pm on BBC1.
