Did you love boarding school books? If so tell us why for chance to win a tennis-themed prize worth over £100 incl Trebizon books + tennis garden set

I loved Mallory Towers and St Clare's. They were such good books which took me away from all the bullying at school into a land of how school life should be.

I loved Malory Towers (even now my friend and I talk about 'Gwendoline's book of scowls'!), St Clare's, and the Chalet School books. I also read some of Angela Brazil's books but can't remember any details (it was a while ago), but one book I do remember reading and re-reading was Lucy Brown's Schooldays by Dorothy Vicary.

i have very fond memories of the Mallory Towers series, borrowing one every fortnight from the library van that came to our village

I tried the Mallory Towers books when I was a child, but my parents disapproved of Enid Blyton, and I was very strongly discouraged from reading any of her books. I think it was intellectual snobbery, to be honest.

I also forgot to mention the Harry Potter series - yes, they are about magic, but also about magical boarding school life. If I could choose a fictional school to go to, I would be very torn between the Chalet School (no bullying, and I'd probably come back to the school as a teacher, and marry a doctor from the San) or Hogwarts - because being a witch (especially doing housework by witchcraft) would be amazing!

I loved the Enid Blyton school books and also the Swiss Chalet school books, they were so old fashioned in retrospect, but I read them all voraciously.

Loved the Mallory Towers books by Enid Blyton. Just loved the togetherness and the comradory of the stories.

I loved them all and read as many as I could get my hands on. I think it was the idea of a world I could relate to (kids at school) but would never be a part of - I would have hated boarding school, but knowing it was never going to happen for real I could imagine myself there and love every minute.

OMG I loved the Trebizon books!!! I had totally forgotten about them! But I remember finding them in a little local bookshop when I was about 11, and being made up to find something "similar" to St Clares and Malory Towers, but much more modern! Oh how I loved the Enid Blyton boarding school books. I used to long to be whisked off to boarding school!

I loved the Chalet School series, as a child, because it seemed so much nicer than my school - bullying wasn't tolerated.

I have the whole set now, and love reading them - in some ways they are the book-equivalent of comfort food.

I have also always enjoyed the sense that I am seeing into a world that would otherwise be hidden to me - I enjoyed recent programmes about Gordonstoun and Harrow, and about naval and army basic training, for the same reasons. I do know that the books are fiction, and give an idealised picture of boarding school, but sometimes it is nice to escape from reality into a more idealised place.

Absolutely bloomin' loved them - was bitterly disappointed when my parents wouldn't let me go to boarding school myself - especially as many of my friends were!

LOVE boarding school books. Malory Towers... St Clare's - the characters are so memorable. Gwendoline Mary, and Irene...Belinda the artist, and Bill and Clarissa with their ponies. Marvellous. Liked the honesty of it - like Alicia being clever without trying, but Darryl having to work hard to get good marts for old Miss Potts.
My dd has read my Malory Towers set, but I only read a few Trebizon, the library never had a whole set. This sounds like a brilliant prize, good competition. Recently I've read Robin Steven's mystery books set in a boarding school, still love tht kind of thing as a comfort read. They are timeless!

I read any school stories I could get my hands on. Mallory Towers, st Clare's. the Naughtiest Girl, Jennings, Billy Bunter , The Chalet School, Trebizon and carried on reading them for the nostalgia and escapism! As an adult i also discovered the Dimsie, Nancy and Springdale books along with Antonia Forest. My DD is enjoying the Naughtiest girl now..

My friend and I used to pretend we were at Malory Towers...it was one of our favourite games. When we went on our school residential trip at the end of primary we pretended we were at boarding school!!

I love reading Enid Blyton as a kid - The Twins at St Claires, Mallory Towers, The Naughtiest Girl series and then I read the Chalet School books which were a bit more grown up but still appealing - I used to want to go to boarding school and have all those kind of adventures :)

And of course you have one of the best series ever based at a boarding school - Harry Potter - combining both the boarding school element (which I loved) and fantasy (also a firm fave)

I loved the St Clares books, and desperately wanted to go to boarding school so I could receive tuck boxes mid term! I'm not keen on fruit cake, though, so my mum would have had to rethink the baked goods treat....

I read these books as a child - I knew nothing about boarding schools so I was really glued to them out of curiosity!

They were my escape from a not great home life. I wished and prayed that I would be sent to boarding school but sadly never to be.

I liked the way the new girl always made good whatever problems they had on arriving at boarding school and the exotic locations that figured in some of them. My favourite was the Chalet school books by Elinor Brent-Dyer but an honourable mention must go to Dorita Fairlie Bruce- her Dimsie books are very good too. I read any I could find as they were difficult to track down and are not getting any easier to find- I still read any I can get my hands on. Perfect escapism for somebody educated in a state school.

Yes i did love boarding school books, Mallory Towers

These have always been a favourite going right back to Billy Bunter!

Yes I used to love the Mallory Towers books as a child

I LOVED THE CHALET SCHOOL SERIES BY ELINOR BRENT DYER.... THESE BOOKS SEEMED TO GO ON FOR EVER AND THE EARLIER ONES FOLLOWED A GIRL CALLED JO AND LATER HER OWN CHILDREN. BOOKS WERE SET IN SWITZERLAND AND YOU COULD JUST LOSE YOURSELF IN THE GOINGS ON AT THE SCHOOL.

I loved boarding school books when I was younger - distinctly remember Zelda from 'Mallory Towers' & Elizabeth eating peppermint creams in bed in 'The Naughtiest Girl in the School' - love it! I've never read the Trebizon series but would love to discover the series with my LO!

In my early teens I loved them for their promise of a world independent from parents, full of mysteries, adventures and midnight snacks; tempered by the safety of the rhythms of school life.

The illusion of the never ending sleepover!

I loved Malory towers but particularly the naughtiest girl in the school as the children had such fun. I used to dream of having a tuck box as big as they did. Also absolutely relished The Worst Witch and Trebizon too. How did they all make boarding school sound so much more exciting than our own schools?

Growing up in a council house and going to a big standard school.. Boarding school stories were my escape

Midnight feasts, swims in the rocky pool of Mallory Towers. A strong dislike of Gwendoline Mary! Loved them all.
Trebizon came later but was just as beloved to me. Rebecca's blooming tennis career was a world away from the knock a door run and kerby games of my childhood!
My kids would love love love to win the set of books.