Childhood Days
As the promise of Spring nears and the days begin to get longer, my thoughts turn to childhood, those carefree years when time really did seem endless. Growing up in the country was wonderful; days were filled with adventure playing hide and seek in the fields and building dens in the hedgerows. I have a real fondness for the fun and colourful make-believe characters of my era, in particular the Golliwog and Noddy - two of my favourite childhood toys and stories. I was an avid reader as a child and my staple diet of Enid Blyton's wonderful books kept me enthralled for many years, including the Famous Five, Secret Seven and Mallory Towers books - think I read them all!
The photos below are original Charlotte Becker prints from the 1940s, well before my time of course! She painted beautiful soft and delicate pictures of babies and animals, so perfect for a nursery wall. These are two of my favourites, isn't that dog so cute?!
Who are your favourite childhood characters?
The Charlotte Becker prints are beautiful and I'm with you on the Enid Blyton books Famous Five,the Adventure books, Mallory Towers etc but........ I loathe Noddy and always have done even as a child!What a dreadful thing to say about such an iconic character isn't it? There is just something about him that I find truly irritating - I feel just the same about Larry the Lamb:) You'd better just concentrate on the positive part of my comment:):)
ReplyDeleteHi Clare,
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute post!
Ginny also mentioned her childhood and I was reminded of the 'Holly Hobbie' characters that were printed on my bedroom curtains. I used to try copying them in my drawing books, as they were such pretty images.
My favourite book was 'The Far Away Tree' - 'Moonface' being my favourite - think he used to eat a lot of toffee, if I remember correctly!
Love the fabric that you have there...maybe I should get my drawing book out!
Niki.x
Clare, I love the Wired Haired Fox Terrier print so much! I grew up with a little dog named Yo-Yo and she was just precious. My dad even raised these little dogs for awhile. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures.
ReplyDeleteOh Enid Blyton did it for me every time. I too loved the faraway tree books and have just finished reading them to my young son, who loved them too. Love that Noddy fabric, is it for sale perchance? ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely The Secret Seven and Mallory Towers - I wanted to be a character in these books and live the adventurous lives they did. I also used to watch the Woodentops on TV... but now I'm showing my age! I love the picture of the baby.
ReplyDeleteRuth x
My toddler loves Noddy! He watches the claymation episodes which are now on television here.
ReplyDeleteI loved Holly Hobby! I had a canopy bed outfitted with a Holly Hobby bedspread and canopy curtain. I also loved a character named "Mr. Moose" who was on a children's show called "Captain Kangaroo". Thank you for these memories, Clare!
Oh my goodness! I just noticed Niki's post about Holly Hobby! Guess we had similar tastes in decor!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how good weather has us thinking of our childhood, those hazy, lazy days of summer, not a care in the world.
ReplyDeleteI loved those Mallory Towers books. I always wanted to go to boarding school. I wanted midnight feasts and climbing out the window on a mission to find one mystery after another. My hubby went to boarding school and said it wasn't quite like that. But then he did go to a boys school. Us girls know how to have fun... good clean fun that is.
Best wishes
Ginny
Hi Clare! What a sweet post. It brought me right back to growing up in Holland, those were lovely care free days.
ReplyDeleteI often come across Gollywog books when out antiquing here in the states,they are amazingly expensive!
I think my favorites were Enid Blyton books (translated into Dutch) and Winnie the Pooh. A Dutch favorite was a cute dwarf called "Pinkeltje" ~ he had many great adventures and my Mom would read me a chapter before bed each night.
The Charlotte Becker Prints are sublime, aren't they? I always have a hard time selling them, as I want to keep them all to myself.:)
Lidy
I seem to have been raised on a diet of Enid Blyton too. I loved the Famous five, and like you must have read all of them. I'm with Rowan on the Noddy character, and Big Ears too.I did and still do love Golliwogs..however I was reprimanded by man in a shop there a while back, that is no longer their PC name..! I also loved Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, I thought those children lived a perfect life, and looking back my childhood wasn't that much different.
ReplyDeleteAs an adult I discovered the Betty Pease Gutmann illustrations and must admit they are among my favourites now.
Hi Clare
ReplyDeleteSorry Rowan, but I grew up with Larry the Lamb!! And Uncle Mac on the radio! Muffin the Mule for me and definitey the Woodentops with Spotty Dog. Ruth, we must be of the same vintage!
I had a lovely book entitled "The Children of Willow Tree Farm" or it could have been Cherry Tree Farm - ah yes, I remember it well!! Whatever the title, I loved it, along with "Wish for a Pony".
I still have Hannah's Holly Hobbie duvet cover, or was it Victoria Plum, I can't remember. Her favourite was Bod.
Sue x
Woops, I forgot - Little Grey Rabbit books; Brer Rabbit and Milly Molly Mandy (and her little friend Susan)!
ReplyDeleteI'm pondering them all
ReplyDeleteyou are sweet
I love everything you have displayed in this post. The toys, chair, the vintage pictures of the child and dog. It's all so perfect!
ReplyDeleteAllie from Minneapolis
www.mycozyhome.typepad.com
I loved The Swallows and Amazons! It was so amazing that they knew how to sail their little boat on their own and could camp on the islands without their parents.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a beautiful print! Hmm...My favourite character..i dont know..i think Pippi Longstocking is my favourite, yes she is ! Not only funny, but smart and caring..And i just loved her house!! Enjoy rest of the day :))
ReplyDeleteSue, Ruth; I remember watching the wonderful Woodentops and Pogle's Wood - and of course Andy Pandy! I've just remembered Tinga and Tucka - I used to love watching them on a Sunday teatime!
ReplyDeleteSheila; I don't take any notice of all that PC nonsense; Golliwogs will always be Golliwogs - why do we have to change such cherished things?!
Amazing when you sit and think, there were some wonderful children's programmes weren't there?
Clare x
Definitely the Famous Five - I couldn't get enough of them! My eldest daughter recently had a Famous five spoof Birthday party - complete with tent in the garden, hike on the Downs, lashings of ginger beer and sandwiches and a few mysteries to solve. It was the best ... thanks for getting me to remember how much fun it was reading when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteKim x
Golliwog and Noddy? I never heard of them. I wonder if they're British.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite childhood character was my uncle Artie who did more crazy things than any cartoon character ever did. One thing even landed him in jail. Perhaps that's fodder for another blog post of mine. :)
Oh such a lovely yellow blanket. Oh it looks so Spring like and I need that. :-)
ReplyDeleteMari-Nanci
Oh Clare! I just love the photos in this post. There is nothing sweeter than vintage prints. I have that same Charlotte Becker print hanfing not 4 feet from me as I type this! As usual, a visit to your lovely blog just makes my day! :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked Enid Blyton's book as well when I was younger. But I guess one of my most favourite toy were those little monchichi bears. You you remember them?
ReplyDeleteAt first I had thought I had never heard of these authors and then Enid Blyton rang a bell. I remember reading the “Castle of Adventure” with my daughter quite a few years back. I had bought the book at the Sally Ann. Emma drew a large size picture of the books cover for her book report and got top marks. She still has it and in my opinion is good enough to frame. Actually I have framed a number of my kids art work. But getting back to this author I can comment as an adult that I thoroughly enjoyed the story when I read it with my daughter for the first time. Now I know why Emma did so well with this novel! So I guess you girls must have been in quite wonderful fantasy lands reading these books.
ReplyDeleteOriginally I had this comment…Love the pooch!!!
Luv Annabelle
Rupert the bear of course ! And my favourtie annual was Twinkle, especially the Dolly's Hospital stories.
ReplyDeleteI'm an Enid Blyton fan myself. I could never get enough of her books when I was growing up. There was a permanent rut hammered into the roadway between my house and the library when I was a kid filled with all the rubber my push bike burned in between the two! I'm now bombarding my two new grandsons with Noddy and Big Ears stuff! I got the lovely hardanger piece ok! I love it, ta! Will be on the lookout for more goodies from your shop!
ReplyDeleteClare thank you for making my morning with these FANTASTIC pictures! You are such a girl after my own heart with your love of color and vintage things! I want that dresser with those cute little knobs!! I can't even think of my favorite characters because I'm too busy drooling over yours!
ReplyDeletexo,
Kim
Oh wow...you`ve taken me to some familiar places....down a road so secure and warm.....stunning post!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanx for the link to Paula Shepherd's work....I totally love it...will be my next post
I also read every mistery book of Enid Blyton I could get. Fortunately in our town we had ya very good public library.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the "Three ???" by Alfred Hitchcock very much and my favorourite mistery series was "Detective Kim", I think it was by a danish author.
But I used to read a lot, nearly every book I could get, not only mistery.
Kind regards, Monika
Oh I was horse mad, I think my fav author was called Ruby Ferguson she wrote the Jill books.
ReplyDeleteThanks ever so much for your kind comment, haven't had to resort to emailing you yet but I really appreciate the offer and if things get to much I'll be taking you up on it. Thankyou.
Hi Clare,
ReplyDeletewell mine are all the characters of the "Augsburger Puppenkiste", but I guess you won't know that German puppets on the string TV show. And I loved to read Pucki books and a bit later Hanni & Nanni! That first picture is so gorgeous! Happy Mothers day to you! Here in Germany Mothers day is in May. xox
I posted on Paula Shepherd's work, if you want to have a look...thanx again
ReplyDeleteHi Clare, my favourite was Victoria Plum. I used to adore everything that had her on it. I also loved all the Malory Towers book and my daughter is making her way through my old books of them now!
ReplyDeletebeautiful pictures!!!
ReplyDeletemine is the book character 'Milly Molly Mandy' I so wanted to live in her village and be her friend!
What a gorgeous post. We have a few Charlotte Becker prints (picked up for pennies at garage sales. They're lovely - and I still have my children's Noddy books from when they were little. I agree, there was a lovely "make-believe" of our era.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and all the wonderful photos and comments. I always loved the Nancy Drew stories and the Little House on the PrairieSeries. There are so many that I can't think of them off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteClare, I love everything about that first photo! Amazing green chair! And I read every Little House on the Prairie book I could get my hands on...and Anne of Green Gables too!
ReplyDeleteClare, I love everything about that first photo! Amazing green chair! And I read every Little House on the Prairie book I could get my hands on...and Anne of Green Gables too!
ReplyDeleteHappy dog photo and angelic child sleeping! Beautifully done!
ReplyDeleteTo my own children I read mother goose always.. both are avid readers today and their children are also!
I'm posting ~roses to give a way~ come by. :)NG
Hi Clare
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thanks for the comments and to tell you that you were spot on with the paint choices. My number one fav is pale green and we had pale crocus on the walls of our bedroom in our last house. We must have very similar taste!
Kim x
Those pictures are lovely! My youngest daughter watches Noddy every night before bed. I had never heard of it until about a year ago.
ReplyDeleteYou are a joy to visit and I will have to go back and see all the post I have missed. My countey cottage with some vintage..is ready....come visit when you can.
ReplyDeleteI love 1940's prints. There is just something about fabric that makes a house a home anywhere you use it :) Have enjoyed seeing all your vintage items. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise they were by an particular artist!
ReplyDeleteI bought two from a charity shop last week. The one you posted and another.
I just couldn't resist!
Hi !.
ReplyDeleteYou may , perhaps very interested to know how one can collect a huge starting capital .
There is no initial capital needed You may start earning with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.
AimTrust is what you haven`t ever dreamt of such a chance to become rich
The firm incorporates an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.
Its head office is in Panama with offices everywhere: In USA, Canada, Cyprus.
Do you want to become really rich in short time?
That`s your choice That`s what you desire!
I`m happy and lucky, I began to take up real money with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. It`s all about how to select a correct companion who uses your funds in a right way - that`s AimTrust!.
I take now up to 2G every day, and my first investment was 500 dollars only!
It`s easy to start , just click this link http://nawusalu.maddsites.com/lojorofu.html
and go! Let`s take this option together to feel the smell of real money
Good day, sun shines!
ReplyDeleteThere have were times of hardship when I felt unhappy missing knowledge about opportunities of getting high yields on investments. I was a dump and downright pessimistic person.
I have never thought that there weren't any need in big initial investment.
Now, I'm happy and lucky , I begin to get real income.
It's all about how to choose a correct companion who utilizes your funds in a right way - that is incorporate it in real business, parts and divides the profit with me.
You may get interested, if there are such firms? I'm obliged to tell the truth, YES, there are. Please get to know about one of them:
http://theblogmoney.com