I remember finding it novel to wear pyjamas in public when you go to brush your teeth – just like Isadora does. (I still do that now sometimes!) Here is an old photo of me sending ‘mascot’ characters down the beach stream My ‘mascot’ Celestine goes boating in a rock poolĪlso just like the Mermaid Bay campsite, the Polly Joke one has a toilet and shower block. One of my favourite games when I was about nine or ten was to put my ‘mascot’ characters into boats and watch them sail down this stream. Alongside this path runs a little stream. One year we camped for three weeks! Just like Mermaid Bay campsite, Polly Joke campsite is a short walk from the beach up a narrow sandy path. We didn’t camp every year – sometimes we stayed in one of the nearby cottages – but we did camp often. I used to love whole family days on the beach like this Here I am (right) paddling in a rock pool with my sister Games and experiences while camping Polly Joke campsite from the nearby hill Mermaid Bay campsite from the air We would build sand castles and bodyboard in the sunshine all day until evening. We would have the windbreak up and the blankets spread, and my mum would hunt for cowry shells and seaglass in the sand. (Although my dad was not so reluctant to enjoy it as Isadora’s dad is). We used to spend these long days on the beach as a whole family, just like Isadora’s family do. Even without fantastical parents and mermaids, childhood holidays are always magical! I thought of them as the homes of miniature rabbits who would come out and bustle about at dusk. Similarly, the sandcastles we used to build I could imagine lighting up at night. The rockpools enchanted me, and I envisaged fairies splashing and frolicking in them when there were no people around. In my mind, the whole place used to be alive with magic. In this cave the rocks form a sort of slide, which I imagined babies sliding down on into the pool to cure them. Although the exact location of the well isn’t agreed on, I always imagined it to be a pool in one of the caves. This ‘well’ was believed to have healing properties, and in olden-times parents would bring their sick children for a dip in the well to cure them. Just up the coast from Polly Joke is Holywell, so named for its ‘Holy well’. The caves always used to hold a sense of wonder for me. Isadora Moon and family driving to their camping holiday I could imagine mermaids swimming into them when the tide is in and they fill with water. They create a sharp contrast to the bright, sunny beach with their dark and mysterious atmosphere. Then there are these magical caves along the sides of the beach. Sometimes we used to find mermaids’ purses on the beach, which only fuelled my speculations. Mermaids in the bay Welcome to Mermaid Bay!Īre there really mermaids at Polly Joke beach? I’ve never seen one, but I always used to imagine there could be. The whole time I was writing Goes Camping I was just pouring my memories of Polly Joke into it! Isadora Moon and her family visit the beach – note the rock out in the sea… …there’s a suspiciously similar rock off Holywell beach, a short walk from Polly Joke. I used to go here for long childhood holidays with my family, and I’ve been back lots of times as an adult. This is a place I have visited all through my life, and I have more fond memories of it than I can count. Although I changed a few details, Mermaid Bay is actually based on one of my favourite places in the world: Polly Joke beach in Cornwall. In Goes Camping, Isadora and her family visit the Mermaid Bay campsite. This week I thought I’d look back at the inspiration and story behind Isadora Moon Goes Camping. In my video interview last week I talked briefly about how Isadora and Mirabelle’s dolls’ house games reflected the way I loved to play as a child. Isadora Moon and her adventures are always very close to my heart.
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