The Canary-Coloured Cart

Christina Hardyment

Published by Heinemann , hardcover with dustjacket

'Why not steal a summer? Make a journey, part Toad-like, self-indulgent adventure, and part education in the old idiom of the Grand Tour? Take the children right out of school for May and June, the loveliest months, and amble unhurried around Europe well ahead of the August crowds.'

One spring morning in 1985, Christina Hardyment and her four daughters, aged between five and eleven, set out from their Oxford home in a canary-coloured campervan on the adventure of a lifetime. They were going in search of magic and enchantment around the storybook sites of Europe. Accompanied at first by a friend and baby, and later by husband Tom, they were going to look for the roots of stories that have captured the imagination of generations of children around the world.

The Canary-Coloured Cart is the story of their journey, a journey that was to teach them all as much about themselves and their resources as it did about the world of myth and fantasy.

Their route took them across 4,000 miles and through six countries, from marble mountain to silver mine, from fairytale castle to breathtaking gorge and haunted woods. They explored the Holland of Hans Brinker, pursued Hans Andersen and his legends through Denmark and Germany, and looked into the mysterious affair of the Hamelin rats. Lost in a forest in East Germany while searching for witches in the Harz Mountains, they wandered into the forbidden zone around a top secret military base and had a chilling encounter with an armed guard and his dog.

Disappointments like Mad King Ludwig's castle in Bavaria, ruined by tourism, were more than compensated for by the unbelievable good fortune of finding their own Alm Uncle while climbing Heidi's Alp. They tracked down Pinocchio in Tuscany, investigated the legend of William Tell on the shores of Lake Lucerne, and ski'd on the roof of Europe before finally relaxing with Babar in the vineyards of Burgundy.

The Canary-Coloured Cart is the story of a pipe-dream that came true, an original, vivid and highly entertaining adventure for travellers and armchair travellers of every age. Christina Hardyment is a witty, informative and inspiring guide to the countries she visits, the books and writers she looks into, and the perils, pleasures and practical management of family life on the rood.