Moondial

 

Staying with an aunt after her mother is involved in an accident, Minty spends her time exploring Belton House and its grounds. Coming across a moondial, Minty is transported back in time and meets Tom. Inexplicitly they also are transported further back in time and come across the sad and mysterious Sarah. Labeled a ‘devil’s child’ by the other child, Sarah is only ever seen at night, heavily hooded. Both Minty and Tom decide to find out Sarah's secret and save her.

There are certain shows that aired during my childhood that I loved; Are You Afraid of the Dark, Sabrina etc but none came close to the affection I held for Moondial.
Perhaps because I saw it at a much younger age, or maybe because I read the book that accompanied the TV show not long after I viewed it. I still remember the thrill of finding the book on the school library shelf. (I never knew it was a book: the thought never actually crossed my mind.)
I’m nostalgic. I always have been. I have always gravitated to the past, but before it had always been someone else’s past. A Viking past. A Roman past. (Suffice to say I was the history geek in my class.) But lately I find I’m gravitating to my own past, so coming across a used copy of Moondial on amazon meant I ignored my aversion to amazon and purchased it. Transporting myself back, (kinda like Minty J) to childhood, it was like getting lost in the pages and going on the adventure with Minty and Tom all over again.

The TV show of Moondial is ace. Looking back at it now I still get that warm fuzzy feeling I had as a child. The ‘adventure can and does happen’ feeling. You unfortunately lose that as you get older. And while you do have adventures when you’re older, they're never what you hoped they would be. Life gets in the way of those adventures, and instead it presents you with its own ideas of ‘adventure’ - which are always anticlimactic because there is much less magic involved.