Still going strong!

 Reading this blog you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no interest in the whole Oxus saga any more. But this is not the case. Admittedly there have not been any updates for far too long, but I and one or two others, remain interfested and pursue our research.

Our idea is that we can put togther at least an extended article, if not a full book. This would touch on subjects such as the girls themselves; their families; their ponies (of course); the locations; the relationship with Ransome and much more.

We will post more information if this comes to fruition - bear with us! 

Cloud Farm

There is indeed a "real" Cloud Farm and it looks right in terms of location.
One of these days I might be able to go there:
http://www.cloudfarmcamping.co.uk/

More Oxus questions

For some reason this blog got confused with one about Dabinett Moon - OK she's a horse but nothing to do with Oxus. So I hope I have managed to unlink Dabinett Moon and that this is only Oxus posts.
It does though mean that a couple of recent posts have also got deleted so I am copy pasting them below.
Many thanks to "rallie raidr" "RR" (a rally rider maybe?) for your recent comments - you clearly know the books very well.
=========================
On 18 Oct 2014, RR commented:
 Have you been able to narrow down the specific geography of the books at all. I can see Dunkery and Porlock but do you have anymore specifics than that?

Blog owner (David) replied:
Good to hear from you - always glad to hear of someone who likes the books.
I suspect that part of the geography was imaginary - to tie in with the references to Persia and Sohrab and Rustrum.
However there is definitely a Cloud Farm in the area who have B&B facilities.
I even looked at an old railway map to see if there was an obvious Cabool station.

On the 19th Oct RR commented:
Remember the 30 mile bike ride from Taunton station in book 2?
Also the car ride near Dunkery Beacon (and it getting bogged)?
I agree on the imaginary aspect of the landscape but there appears to be a real knowledge of the area which makes me think there may have been a physical connection to the region by one or both girls. 

January 2012 update

Though I have not updated the blog recently, I have not been ignoring the Oxus saga. I am in regular contact with one of Pam's daughters and many of the original illustrations still exist. I have also been contacted by the son of "Bridget" who was mentioned in the Ransome introduction to The Far Distant Oxua. I am still hopeful that I can find the time to write a full article for offering to one of the newspaper supplements - it's such a good story that needs telling.

More information:

I have now found out which school the girls attended and through the school have made contact with some of the girls' relatives.
Also that there is a real "Cloud Farm", and the real house in London from where they "escaped to Persia".
Through the Ransome archive I have also got copies of some contemporary letters from the girls.

And even more people who remember the books

There are continuing fresh comments on Fidra's blog. http://www.fidrabooks.co.uk/blog/?p=127&cpage=1#comment-27110

And no, I have NOT forgotten about creating a website. Just needs the time to do it....

Wkipedia reference - has all the basic information

The Far-Distant Oxus
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The Far-Distant Oxus is a children’s novel of 1937, written by Katharine Hull (1921-1977)[1] and Pamela Whitlock (1920-1982)[2]. The title is taken from Matthew Arnold’s poem Sohrab and Rustum.

Hull and Whitlock met when they were schoolchildren (fourteen and fifteen respectively), whilst sheltering from a thunderstorm [3]. They discovered shared interests and decided to write a story about ponies set on Exmoor [3]. They planned out the entire book and wrote alternate chapters, exchanging them afterwards to edit [3].
The story follows the model of the books of Arthur Ransome, describing the school holiday adventures of children of prosperous families, centred on outdoor activity and a vividly imagined landscape: Ransome had boats and Windermere, The Far-Distant Oxus had ponies and Exmoor.
Whitlock sent the manuscript to Ransome in March 1937; he in turn brought it to his publisher Jonathan Cape, saying that he had "the best children's book of 1937" for him.[4] Cape published the book in the same format as Swallows and Amazons, and persuaded Arthur Ransome to write the introduction.
The book, with illustrations by Whitlock, was indeed successful; contemporary reviewers were impressed and critics today are still positive. The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books comments that it is 'as absorbing as Ransome at his best' [5]. The two authors followed it with Escape to Persia (1938), The Oxus in Summer (1939) and Crowns (1947).[1]

Fidra Books reissued the novel in August, 2008.[6]
References:

* The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English, by Victor Watson, Cambridge University Press, 2001
* The Life of Arthur Ransome, by Hugh Brogan, Jonathan Cape, 1984
* The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature, by Humprey Carpenter and Mari Prichard, Oxford: OUP, 1984
* Where Texts and Children Meet, by Eve Bearne and Victor Watson, Routledge, 1999