The Witch of Blackberry Bottom

A pleasant but disappointingly pedestrian story, especially coming from King-Smith, which is not done any favours by a very plumy reading. The strange old lady with a missing eye hidden by an eye patch, living with a pack of dogs in the overgrown and distinctly smelly Blackberry Bottom of the title is not, of course, really a witch. She is, in fact, the daughter of the aristocracy who lost interest in the world after her heart was broken by a callous youth. Shunned by the locals, until a couple of horribly goody goody children move into the nearby cottage, she turns out to have a stash of money hidden away in a milk churn. The attempted theft of the treasure leads to a creaky adventure with a predictable ending and happiness all round. Told largely through dialogue, Prunella Scales works hard at giving everyone a different voice but they are all terribly British and frightfully irritating.