Arthur Ransome

Best behaviour, everyone …

Hmm… I wonder if they will find any … 🐦🐦🐦

Ah how lovely … so nice to see the signs of spring 🌱

A cluster of bright yellow daffodils growing on a steep, grassed river bank. A stand of bare poplar trees are visible in the background

Diolch yn fawr! Found these very seasonal daffs growing on the banks of the young Mersey on my afternoon walk. I feel Dick Callum would have appreciated the cormorants and great spotted woodpeckers in evidence.

Eek indeed! ☂️

Map of the lake, showing Wild Cat Island, Rio, High Hills etc, from early edition of Swallows and Amazons

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus (Happy St David’s Day) to Bluesky friends! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌼

Hope you can find time today to ‘gwnewch y pethau bychain’ (do the little things), as St David said … a perfect day to spend outside in nature, or curl up with your favourite Ransome perhaps?? 📚 ⛵️

A crossword clue - number 28 down - ‘Relative’ (5-4)

An image of a crossword. 28 down is circled. 5-4, and it begins with a ‘G’

Hmmmm … what could this be??

#SwallowsAndAmazons

Oh they did, and this is such an exciting part of the story… proper reading under the duvet with a torch stuff

John and Susan did so well

Anyone else brave enough??

It’s just perfection … it sums up exactly the feeling of school ending, and that stretch of holiday yawning away ahead of you

Not much luck here either, but tomorrow looks like another opportunity… 🪐

Anyone else had any luck with spotting the six planets? Good luck, and hopefully there won’t be too much Tennyson to get in the way …

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So many options here!

I'm torn between SD's "sleeping in the open on Kanchenjunga", SA's "the feast following the battle in houseboat bay" and PP's "the first night spent camping on the Beckfoot lawn". Any of those would do!

All very strong contenders… I might let you have them all 😊

Ah yes, shows what care they have for one another

He he! I’d completely forgotten about that!

I just love Nancy's reaction, at a time of great stress, when they let Squashy Hat into the mine and she can't help a private gloat when she realizes he doesn't know about it!

Excellent choice!

(And the very best kind of jam … Roger will approve)

I think I’d like to begin right at the beginning and join the Swallows on the peak in Darien just as Roger arrives with the telegram. As I don’t care for marmalade I shall be bringing a pot of homemade raspberry jam containing totally unsquashed berries.

V v fond of the D&Gs

The Death & Glories salvaging the Margoletta and making sure their claim was recognised by Old Bob. Being boat builders' children, their goal was saving the boat and claiming salvage before bothering about the people. And they got a nice upgrade and some cash out of their quick thinking.

It’s such a magical beginning to a story

Dot and Dick in the observatory watching as the Martians come up to meet them. That's the start of everything, for me -- Winter Holiday was the first Ransome I read.

When the Swallows are taking the Goblin to Holland after the blow on the North Sea. They see the lighthouse for the first time. Not just its light, but the tower itself. It means they have successfully managed the weather. The boat is well.

I love many other scenes. This one came to my mind first.

Excellent choice!

A line drawing showing a cross section through a lake and to the hills beyond. Titty is on the left, diving for pearls. Roger is on the right, swimming with one foot on the bottom.

⛵️Today you are able to join any scene, from any of the Arthur Ransome books.⛵️

Which would choose, and why?

Making hats in the Fram?
Sliding down the knickerbockerbreaker in Swallowdale?
Sailing with Tom Dudgeon?

Share your thoughts below! 👇

#SwallowsAndAmazons

A hand-drawn picture code letter where pictures can be substituted for words or part of words for example, a picture of an eye for the word ‘I’

A little girl once sent a drawing to artist John Leigh-Pemberton for his approval.
He replied in this delightful picture-code letter - which she has treasured for over 50 years. Can you work out his reply?

The doors keep banging.