THE WAR years work of celebrated children’s author Enid Blyton will provide lashings of nostalgia at historic Corfe Castle this week.

This event, in association with the village’s Ginger Pop Shop, will boast a host of activities including a paper aeroplane recreation of the Battle of Britain.

Ginger Pop Shop owner and Blyton aficionado Viv Endecott said: “There comes a time when a writer hits their sweet spot and for Blyton, for whatever reason, it was the war years.

“These days fantasy for children is being allowed past the garden gate.

“Blyton was quite ruthless in getting the adults out of the way so the children could have adventures – nowadays children have got an adult looking over their shoulder all the time.”

The event, taking place between 11am and 4pm on Thursday, June 2, will include blanket square knitting demonstrations and readings from Bylton books, published in the early 1940s under the pseudonym Mary Pollack.

Blyton regularly holidayed in Purbeck during the Second World War and drew inspiration from the people and places she encountered here.

Corfe Castle is thought to have been the inspiration for Kirrin Castle, mentioned in one of her classic Famous Five adventures.

Blyton is also said to have based the character of PC Plod on Christopher Rone, the village bobby from nearby Studland.

Between 1939 and 1945 Blyton published nearly one hundred books, including the early Famous Five series.

Thirty of the books published in this period remain in print today.

During this time she also encouraged children to knit blanket squares and distributed 3,000 blankets in 18 months to refugees and wounded servicemen.

She also headed a national campaign to get children to collect medicinal herbs.