Thimblewick Lane is a crooked little lane of tiny shops, tucked under a giant leaf at the far edge of a quiet garden. It could be at the bottom of any garden, anywhere in the world. It’s always the soft end of the day there, and the problems are always small ones, like a lost button, a stuck window or a sleepy snail who’s running late. Kindness always sorts them out.
The friends on the lane
Pip Hazel
A young hedgehog who runs the button shop. She’s curious and careful, and she loves counting things. Her jars are full of buttons: red ones, blue ones, smooth wooden ones and shell ones that shine like the inside of the sea. When something feels a little bit wobbly, Pip takes a slow breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth.
Grandpa Odo
A very old toad, and the lamplighter of Thimblewick Lane. He’s slow and kind, he walks with a stick, and his voice is gentle and croaky, like a warm cello. Every evening he carries his long pole with its tiny flame and lights the five lamps along the lane, one by one.
Juniper and Fen
Sister and brother wrens who bake the bread in the teacup bakery, which always smells of warm bread, honey and a little bit of cinnamon. Juniper loves to chatter and hum. Fen is deaf, and he talks by signing with his wings. Everyone on the lane knows a little sign language, so they can all talk with Fen.
Nana Moss
A wise old badger who keeps the lending library inside an old brown boot. She wears a soft stripy sweater and her reading glasses sit on the end of her nose. She notices everything, and she always has a blanket to spare.
Dewdrop
A little snail who lives by the pond at the bottom of the lane. He does everything very slowly, including talking, and nobody minds a bit. He’s the newest friend on Thimblewick Lane. You can first meet him in The Button That Rolled Away, and find out his name in A Button for the Snail.
Places on the lane
- The button shop, where Pip keeps her jars of buttons and counts them every evening.
- The teacup bakery, an upturned teacup, white with blue flowers round the edge, where Juniper and Fen bake.
- The boot library, an old laced-up boot with a little door in the toe, full of Nana Moss’s books.
- The lamplighter’s post, where Grandpa Odo starts his round of the five lamps.
- The pond, at the bottom of the gently sloping lane, with its flat green lily pads.
Lighting the Lamps
Every story ends the same way. Grandpa Odo lights the five lamps along the lane, one by one, and you breathe slowly with each lamp: in through your nose, and out gently, like blowing on a warm cup of cocoa. Then you say goodnight to each shop in turn, and finally: “Goodnight, Thimblewick Lane. Goodnight, you.”