Sunday, March 30, 2014

Places in Jane Shaw: Farningham (Farthing Green)

In Susan's Helping Hand, the Carmichaels and Susan spend the Easter holidays at Cousin Barbara's Apple Tree Farm in Kent, near the village of Paddocks. They also visit Miss Frame's little shop in nearby Farthing Green. In real life, Farthing Green is an amalgamation of two villages, one of them being Farningham. This discovery was the result of some detective work by my friend Ruth Redfern from Crail in Scotland. Her research was meant to be included in Susan and Friends, but did not meet the deadline. Ruth has promised to send me more information, including the identity of the other village, soon. In Kent, there is a real village called Farthing Green, which may have been disguised as Hunting Green in the Thomas stories.
Jane Shaw also combined villages in The Tall Man. You can read the details here.

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