As I said above, we follow the activities of the Brambly Hedge community of field mice through the seasons. Small and big events happen, someone gets lost, there's a wedding, they create a winter ball with ice skating. And a great deal of food is involved. The team at Bramble and Hedge are a passionate and highly talented group of Artisans making sure the innovation and quality of products continue to evolve. My favorites are the ones that dissect the trees where the mice make their homes. I could spend hours staring at all the little rooms the mice have carved out of the tree, complete with tiny furnishings, winding staircases, and halls. The Four-Year-Old, on the other hand, would prefer to spend those hours staring at the illustration of the room at the top of the Secret Staircase, with its spider webs, columns, detailed tapestries, mice statues, and especially the little suit of mouse armor standing guard on the side. Autumn Story "Now keep close to me and don't get lost."Autumn is the time for excitement and adventure with the leaves changing colors, fall harvests and more. But then Primrose goes missing - and Lord and Lady Woodmouse don't know what to do. They simply must find their daughter before too late! Jill had a portfolio of lots and lots of pictures of mice and the structure of a mouse world,” said Fior. “Her craftsmanship was extraordinary. You only had to open the portfolio to know she was something special. But there wasn’t a story. Instead there was the idea of the community of mice.” Fior was immediately taken by the potential of Jill’s idea and the quality of her work, and sent her home with a four-book contract. “The intensity of Jill’s vision was clear from the beginning,” she said. “She wanted the world to be a wonderful place and she wanted to create a community where that would happen – even if it was only a fictional one.”

The book itself would be too heavy for a much younger child to hold but it makes good bed time reading and perfect for confident older readers too. I quite enjoyed having the 4 individual seasonal books when I was younger but this book makes good sense if you want to save space or take all the stories with you at once. After graduating she became an illustrator for children's bibles and a series of collections of prayers and graces. Under her maiden name she illustrated the Haffertee Hamster books by Janet and John Perkins. Take a look at these illustrations.. It's dreamy, isn't it? This book had the power to make me wander with my imagination with those little mice. I was one of them and their adventures and life happenings were truly the best. Winter Story (1980) – The biggest snowstorm in years leaves just enough snow for a party in a palace made entirely out of ice.Summer Story (1980) – The mice celebrate a special wedding, and everyone takes part in the preparations.

We very much hope that visitors to Epping Forest can retrace Mum’s steps through the forest at High Beech, and hopefully find inspiration from the landscape through the seasons, just as she did all those years ago.”The Brambly Hedge is a collection of children's stories first published in the 1980s by beloved author Jill Barklem. The Secret Staircase (1983) – Primrose and Wilfred go up to the attic on their own to practice reciting the Mid-Winter Poem for an important performance. Jill Barklem was born as Gillian Gaze in Epping on 23 May 1951. [1] She was the daughter of John and Ivy Gaze who ran a family-owned department store in the town. [2] Educated at Loughton High School, after an accident when she was thirteen resulting in a detached retina, she was unable to take part in PE or games at school and instead developed her talent for drawing and art. On leaving school, she studied illustration at St Martin's in London. [1] Illustrator [ edit ] She went on to publish Spring Story, Summer Story, Autumn Story and Winter Story in 1980. They were followed by The Secret Staircase, The High Hills, Sea Story and Poppy’s Babies. Each of the stories was deeply researched, and would take up to two years to finish; all of the food that features in the stories, for example, was created by Barklem in her kitchen first, to see that it worked. In 1996, the stories were adapted for television, using the voices of actors including Jim Broadbent and June Whitfield. Wilfred to the Rescue (2005) "In the spirit of Jill Barklem" Alan MacDonald (Author), Lizzie Sanders, botanical artist [7] (Illustrator)