THE phenomenally successful Miss Read’s Thrush Green has been adapted by Ron Perry for the stage at Manor Farm Meadow in Hamptworth.

Performances by the Redlynch Players are spanning four nights from Wednesday, May 24 until Saturday 27 and have already sold-out - marking the Players popularity, who are now celebrating their 60th anniversary with this production.

Novelist and schoolmistress, Dora Jessie Saint MBE, best known by the pseudonym Miss Read, was best known for two series of novels set in the British countryside, the Fairacre novels and those of Thrush Green.

The first Thrush Green novel appeared in 1959 and is a wry regional social comedy, laced with gentle humour and subtle social commentary. Saint was a keen observer of nature and the changing seasons.

Mr Perry said: “Miss Read came into my life 50 odd years ago, when reading her Village School for my English Literature O Level. I have read every one of her novels since then. I attended Miss Read’s memorial service in 2013 where I met her daughter Jill Saint. Following that meeting, it occurred to me Thrush Green would would adapt well for the stage, with a well-defined set of characters and strong story line.”

Miss Read’s adaptation brings to life a Cotswold village on May Day 1960 and follows the fortunes of the village folk.

For more information go to redlynchplayeres.co.uk.