The Animals of Farthing Wood Annual 1994

Blogging about the ongoing carnage of cute cartoon animals can get awfully disheartening at times, so I’ve decided to take a small break and focus upon one of the few pieces of Farthing Wood merchandise that I presently have to hand – The Animals of Farthing Wood Annual 1994, published in 1993 by World International Publishing.  I had a copy of this annual growing up, which is presently stored away somewhere at my parents’ house, along with every dog-eared issue of Farthing Wood Friends and a few other nostalgic goodies that I regrettably don’t have access to right now.  I came across a second-hand copy of this and picked it up, not merely to satisfy my own thirst for a quick nostalgia fix, but because I thought that it might make a lovely present for my nieces when they’re old enough to read it. I see from the inner cover page that this copy once belonged to someone named Danielle, who'd already filled out most of the puzzles and activities.

The annual is interesting, in that it tells an alternate version of how the animals journeyed from their rapidly-diminishing home in Farthing Wood to the safety of White Deer Park, with one particularly notable difference being that nobody here dies.  The stories, written by John Escott and illustrated by Jane Swift, are also a lot lighter in nature than the original series - the level of threat is fairly minimal throughout, and the humans they meet are mostly harmless.  Curiously, Mr. Hedgehog not only survives in this version of the journey, but is treated as something of a major character, landing himself the central role in one of the stories therein (“Flying Hedgehog!”) and being the focus of an animal facts page.  I’ve stated previously how devastated I was as a child when he and his mate met their grisly fate in the TV series, and I was always grateful to this annual for helping to take the sting off that a little, by resurrecting the character and giving him his own fluffy little escapade.  Note that there’s also no explanation here as to how Vixen joins the group – she just shows up in time for the final story.  Whistler the heron does not feature at all in the annual’s version of the story.

In addition to the lighter tone, the “rules” of this particular Farthing universe seem to be a fair bit looser, in that the animals often display far more direct knowledge of human society, technology and culture than they really should have access to.  The entire “In the Picture” story, for example, rests upon the rather dubious notion that the animals not only understand what a camera is, but that they also know about wildlife books and magazines, to the extent that they can even name a few specific titles (Weasel fantasises about appearing in the pages of Nature News).  During “Fox and The Burglar”, I found myself questioning why the animals should know or even care what a burglar is – surely one human is as dangerous as the next when you’re a wild animal, regardless of what side of the law they fall on?

Here’s a breakdown of the contents therein:

"Meet the Animals" – An introductory story detailing the final days of Farthing Wood and how the animals come to set out on their journey.  Essentially, this is a simplified version of the very first episode of the TV series, with the animals holding an emergency meeting in Badger’s sett and finding solidarity via the Oath of Mutual Protection.  The only particularly significant detail omitted here is any explanation as to how Toad should know of White Deer Park’s existence or how to get here.  In the annual’s version of events, he apparently just happens to know. 

"Fox and The Burglar" – While the other animals are sleeping inside a factory, Fox decides to have a look around and accidentally sets off the building’s burglar alarm, attracting unwelcome police attention.

 "Animal Facts – The Fox" – A few facts about the real-life counterparts of Farthing Wood’s cunning and resourceful leader. 

"Toad in Trouble" – Toad takes a tumble down a cattle grid and becomes trapped.  After various unsuccessful attempts to free him, Owl finds a rickety old fence and has the ingenious idea of having the animals insert it into the cattle grid for Toad to use as a ramp.  With Toad liberated, the animals continue on their journey, and Badger comments how useful it would be if every cattle grid came equipped with a ramp so that any small animals that fall in needn’t be stuck there.  Obviously there’s an explicit message here aimed at whoever is responsible for designing those things. 

"Which Animal?" – A Farthing Wood-themed crossword puzzle. Danielle had already filled out the answers in this particular copy. 

"Be Seen!" – The animals narrowly avoid becoming roadkill while travelling alongside a narrow road in the early hours of the morning.  Owl spots a cyclist wearing luminous armbands so that traffic can see him, and the animals comment upon the ingenuity of this human invention.  One of the more openly didactic stories of the annual, this is obviously geared toward highlighting the importance of wearing luminous clothing when travelling near roads in the dark. 

"Cover the Animals" – A Farthing Wood-themed game you can play with a friend, a die and twelve small pieces of cardboard. 

"In The Picture" – When Weasel spies a wildlife photographer taking snapshots of the local scenery, the animals all clamour to have their pictures taken.  I’ve already outlined just how much of a stretch the entire concept of this one is, so I’ll just confess that, despite my reservations, this story is probably my favourite of the lot.  There’s something very refreshing about seeing the Farthing Wood characters involved in such a silly, totally inconsequential slice-of-life yarn, of the sort that they could never have in the series proper.  Not to mention that the ending, which involves Mole ruining everything for everyone, is an absolute hoot. 

"Flying Hedgehog!" – Frustrated with life on the ground, Mr. Hedgehog fantasises about being able to fly like a bird, but ends up discovering just how dizzying life in the air can be when he unwittingly snuggles up inside the basket of a hot-air balloon.  Fortunately, Kestrel is on hand to help bring him back down to earth.  As stated, Mr. Hedgehog is sadly a rather ill-fated character in the series proper, so it’s comforting to know that somewhere there’s a parallel universe in which he fares a lot better.  Since Kestrel is apparently able to carry him in this particular universe without any difficulty, there’s actually no reason why that motorway-crossing mishap from the series would have to happen here at all.  Also, it occurred to me that Mrs. Hedgehog seems to be pretty much non-existent throughout this book. 

"Animal Facts – The Hedgehog" – Facts about those adorable, parasite-ridden little urchins. 

"Have you seen this Bird?" – Information about various birds found around the British Isles, along with spaces for you to record the dates and locations of your personal sightings.  Curiously, none of the Farthing Wood birds (kestrel, long-eared owl, pheasant, heron) are featured here. 

"Helping Hands" – The animals seek shelter upon a farm during a turbulent storm, and Badger saves a runaway piglet from drowning in a river.  Meanwhile, strong winds cause damage to the roof of the barn that the animals are sleeping in, and Fox becomes trapped under some of the resulting rubble.  Fortunately, the mother of the piglet that Badger saved is able to return the favour by using her bulk to lift the wreckage off of Fox. 

"A Country Walk" – A board game based upon following the Countryside Code. 

"Snakes Alive!" – A very short story in which Adder thinks that she hears the hissing of another snake and goes in search of it, only for it to turn out to be a punctured milk float tyre.  Also, milk bottles fall on her in a rather painful-looking manner. 

"Animal Facts – The Adder" – Facts about Farthing Wood’s most feared predator. 

"Have you seen this Flower?" – Information about different varieties of wild flower found around the British Isles, with a space to record the dates and locations of your personal sightings.  Danielle doesn’t appear to have had that much luck with finding many of these. 

"Mole’s Free Ride" – Mole becomes separated from the other animals and winds up inadvertently hitching a lift inside a removal van.  By a stroke of excellent fortune, the van happens to be heading in the exact direction that the animals are travelling (if it hadn’t then Mole would most certainly have been lost forever), so once Mole has escaped from the human children who were surprised to find him nestled inside their toy box, he’s able to reunite with his friends simply by lingering around long enough for them to catch up.  Badger apparently never noticed that Mole had slipped off of his back, although such behaviour is hardly out of character for him – it happened once or twice in the TV series too. 

"Animal Facts – The Badger" – Facts about Farthing Wood’s benevolent sage. 

"Countryside Clues" – A countryside-themed crossword puzzle.  Once again, Danielle had beaten me to solving this one.

"Rescue Bells" – The final story of the annual, this one involves the animals getting trapped inside a church, and is obviously reminiscent of the penultimate episode of Series 1.  Instead of ruining a wedding, however, here the animals manage to escape by ringing the church bells, causing the old man who works at the church to come running.

The story then concludes rather abruptly, with the final page assuring us that the animals made it safely to White Deer Park.

And that’s The Animals of Farthing Wood Annual 1994.  I’m not sure how many Farthing Wood annuals there were in total, but I had at least two more of these in my childhood (one of which involved the animals arriving at White Deer Park to find that it was submerged in flood waters and having to enter by riding on bin lids pushed along by friendly ducks, or something along those lines). Should I happen to come across any copies, or should I get the opportunity to root through my nostalgia nest at the old family home any time soon, I'll be sure to take a look at them here too.