Create Your Very Own Kirrin Island

Article by Keith Robinson

Every child wants their own island (not to mention adults), so why not create your own? Enid Blyton did! For this you'll need some sticky-back tape and two photographs, one of Corfe Castle and the other of the sea. Here are pictures I prepared earlier...

First, find a clear image of Corfe Castle. Any picture will do, but try to find one where you don't have to do much editing to get rid of all the foreground houses.

Second, edit the picture to get rid of the foreground. You might have to add some greenery back in. Finally, paint out the sky with one solid white color.

Third, you'll need a pretty simple picture of the sea. Try to find something with roughly the same lighting as your edited Corfe Castle picture so they match up.

Fourth, turn the white background of your castle picture transparent and paste it carefully on top of the sea picture. And there it is—Kirrin Island!

Special effects! It's all very well having a nice sunny day on the island—perfect for picnics!—but it's much more exciting when there's a thick mist and the gang can't see what's going on.

Everyone knows that Kirrin Island was based on Corfe Castle on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. Actually, technically speaking it's not an isle but a peninsula, and doesn't come close to resembling an island of any sort. But Enid Blyton, who was known to visit the area frequently, must have stared at that impressive castle ruin and let her imagination run wild, seeing nothing but a small lump of land sticking out the water with this castle on top. It became Kirrin Island, and has been re-created in TV shows and movies ever since—either using an island somewhere that resembles Blyton's visualization, or by using special effects...