JOHANNA BASFORD, ILLUSTRATOR AND COLOURING BOOK QUEEN
Where is it?
Arran. The island has such strong family ties for me.
Why do you go there?
My first visit would have been as a baby. My parents took me to see my grandparents when I was only weeks old. My grandfather was the head gardener at Brodick Castle Gardens. He and my grandmother had a tied house in the castle grounds.
When I was little, we would spend every summer on Arran and stay in the house that my dad grew up in. It was called Sylvania and on the outskirts of the grounds. We could cut through the rhododendron bushes, over the burn and straight into the castle gardens.
It was safe and open and such a whimsical Enid Blyton childhood. We lived in Aberdeen, so it was a big old trek to get down to catch the ferry to Arran. As well as a few weeks in the summer, we often spent Christmases there.
How often do you go?
Back then at least a couple of times a year. Now? Very rarely. The last time was before I had children. After my grandpa retired, they had to give up the house that had come with the job and moved away from the island. That was the beginning of everyone drifting a wee bit.
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Everyone knew my grandparents Joan and John Basford. They were there a long time. It is nice to feel rooted to a place, even if you don't live there.
What's your favourite memory?
Within the formal gardens there was a wee grassy brae. My cousins and I would roll down that hill after having ice cream. The smell of the grass. Summers seemed so hot when I was younger.
The last time I went back, the current gardeners had planted fuchsia bushes all down the brae. Nobody can roll down it now, which is a bit sad.
Who do you take?
I would go with my mum, my dad and my sister Katrina. I'm looking forward to taking my children Evie, six, and Mia, three, to Arran.
My cousin lives close to us and has two wee boys. Her mum is still on the island and my cousin is there a lot, but I haven't been with my kids because they get horrendously car sick.
I can't wait to visit and hope we all get to go together with our children. I like thinking about my kids being able to play with my cousin's kids. They will play on the same beaches, wee parks and crazy golf course as we did. I can imagine us re-enacting all the family photographs.
What do you take?
I would spend the entire summer in those brown leather sandals that every kid had back then. We had two massive Labradors and they would be in the back of the Subaru Estate.
I don't remember there being any bags, but they must have been attached to a roof rack. We had toys on the island. There were buckets and spades, as well as bikes from my dad's childhood.
What do you leave behind?
Before we moved to a fish farm in rural Aberdeenshire when I was seven, we lived in a terraced house in Aberdeen city centre. Arran was such a contrast. I remember thinking my grandparent's front lawn was the size of a football pitch.
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Sum it up in a few words.
Sunny. Leafy. Ice cream. Laughter. Sandy.
What travel spot is on your post-lockdown wish list?
A day trip to Dundee. My kids love the V&A museum. It will be nice to see some real people and eat ice cream that hasn't come out of my freezer in the kitchen.
Worlds of Wonder by Johanna Basford is published by Virgin Books on April 1, priced £14.99
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