To wonder which fictional boarding school you'd like to have attended?

[Clothrabbit]

For me, Malory Towers. I still love those books and always enjoy reading about the outdoor pool, Gwendoline's misdemeanours, and Mamzelle's eccentricities.

Trebizon !

Hogwarts for me too. It's the casual attitude to student welfare that attracts me to it.

The Farm School - trilogy by Josephine Elder featuring Annis Best and her friend Kitty Forrester at the school run by Kitty's parents. The school's ethos appeals to me - a mixture of choice and self discpline with farm work a part of the curriculum. I first learned about Kindertransport refugees from this series. I'd like to do lots of English and German and look after the horses as my farm task.

stellar I think I could put up with all that on account of the chalet school's amazing carbs.

The kuchen, the fancy breadtwists with bucketloads of jam, potato balls cooked in melted butter (drool), Karen's delicious homemade lemonade.

I'd need a ramble after all that.

EmmaGrundyForPM and HumphreyCobblers

I agree it would be worth it to meet Lois Sanger! Sadly, I am more like Marie Dobson than Nicola, or at least I was when I was at school, so Nicola's reactions aren't a good guide for how I'd feel . I think I'd have been jumping for joy at the idea of Colebridge Grammar.

The Manor House School in the first Angela Brazil I read.
Or possibly Linbury Court, except I am a girl.

Hogwarts, of course.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel

I forgot about Linbury Court! I think I'd prefer that to MT, especially if I could have been pals with Darbishire.

Er, Malory Towers of course.

I'd have been Alicia.

Malory towers but then I went to a boarding school with an outdoor pool and I feel I was really mis sold!!! It was not all fun and games, bloody miserable

I never would have been popular or accepted in any of those proper boarding schools, so I pick Hogwarts. I'd be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, where hopefully I'd make some actual friends. (My adult self is a total soft lefty and would be smack bang in Hufflepuff but the 11yo me was a swot...) My only friend might have been Luna though.

Another vote for St Custards.

The school George & Anne went to. Conveniently allowed dogs so Timmy could go with them, he even went in the dorm sometimes. They also had riding lessons every day. Awesome school.

DD was very disappointed to learn that St Trinians isn't real.

Malory Towers

Either St Trinian's or Grangewood from Daisy Pulls it Off.

Hogwarts

Mallory Towers or St Clare’s.

Chalet School or the Jane Willard Foundation (Dimsie books).

I wasn't quite so keen on the Enid Blyton ones, where it seemed that the difficult characters got bullied into conformity.

Hogwarts
But if non magic red roofs

Malory towers as well. The friendship, the fun, the midnight feasts and lovely location.

Oh, Chalet of course. I'd rather live at the big house with Joy etc than go to the Abbey school, I think.

Loved Malory Towers as a child and wanted to go.

But then I read “Lace” and wanted to go to L’Hirondelle finishing school.

i love that there are so many other Forest fans on mumsnet. I'm surprised pp think Kingscote sounded particularly grim, though it's obviously much heavier on the realism than most boarding school stories. I love the books but there's bits that really bring home how much things have changed. Marie Dobson's death being one - how brief and matter-of-fact everyone is about it.

Mallory towers but now Hogwarts.

The Chalet School. I was mildly obsessed at one point.