Green Knowe

I chose the names of my cats, Linnet and Tolly, from one of my favourite books The Children of Green Knowe, the first in a series of magical books written by Lucy Boston.

The book starts in winter with Tolly arriving to stay with his great-grandmother in the middle of a flood. As the snow falls and Christmas nears, she tells him stories of other children who lived in the house and it’s as if they’re still there …

The books are set in and around Lucy’s home, The Manor, Hemingford Grey and were illustrated by her son, Peter who took the house and the things in it as his inspiration. Built in around 1130 and set in beautiful gardens, it’s one of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in Britain.

If you visit Green Knowe you will see many of the things mentioned in the books; Tolly’s room in particular will be very familiar to readers with the rocking horse, bird cage and chest.

You can buy the Green Knowe books and many other exciting things from Lucy’s daughter-in-law, Diana at the Green Knowe Shop. I can recommend the DVD of the BBC series from the 1980s of ‘The Children of Green Knowe’ as well as ‘From Time To Time’ which was based on ‘The Chimneys of Green Knowe’.

But, most exciting of all, you can buy a copy of Tolly’s little mouse, taken from the original model. The book and a mouse would make a lovely gift for a reading child.

And as if all that wasn’t enough, Lucy Boston was also a quilter. But that will have to keep for another day.