h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think of Brownsea Island every time I fill in a visa form and write Bournemouth under place of birth. The primary school I went to, long since demolished, had a regular summer outing to Brownsea when it was still owned by Mrs Bonham-Christie. The whole school went for a day with teachers wearing straw hats and supervising the distribution of hard boiled eggs, buns and bananas from giant wicker hampers . But what I remember most are the wild crab apples that covered the over grown estate . Tiny sour apples that we used to throw at each other until caught and eat until our stomachs ached.

Until I was 20 I used to go every summer to stay in the castle for a week. My over riding memories are of the sounds of the peacocks screeching early in the morning and how if you sat quietly enough the squirrels, rabbits and deer would come so close.