An old favourite

When I was a kid I always enjoyed watching "Flambards" on TV. It was the story of orphan Christina, who is a heiress sent to live with her crippled Uncle and two cousins on a country estate in Essex (although filmed in Yorkshire). Elder cousin Mark was mad on hunting and didn't want things to move on, and younger cousin William was keen on the new flying machines (the story is set at the turn of the 20th century). Christina was destined to marry Mark so her money could be used to save and restore the crumbling Flambards house and estate. However, Christina had other ideas and runs away to London with Will, eventually marries him, is widowed a short time after and then returns to Flambards. I won't recite the whole story here, suffice to say that the series was based on the "Flambards Trilogy" by K.M. Peyton and never featured the fourth book, written sometime later, called "Flambards Divided".

As a kid mad on the story, I had all the books (I have read them lots of times over the years!) and went to the Flambards Village in Cornwall while on holiday there. The only thing I never wanted was the soundtrack album, as the only thing I disliked about the series was the awful, irritating music it featured. Mark was my favourite character, both in the books and the TV series.

After buying the complete series on VHS years ago, it was nice to get the complete series on DVD last week and it is good to wallow in nostalgia again and remember one of my favourite ever stories in its TV adaptation.

For those who want a shot of nostalgia, here is a clip from episode 2 of the TV series.