Where is the Chalet School? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Austria

After writing, and having published, what would become the first three books of the La Rochelle series, Elinor Brent-Dyer decided to use the setting of a holiday she and a friend had spent in the Austrian Tyrol for her next book. She spent a few days in Innsbruck, and then some time at Pertisau on the Achensee. While Pertisau was changed to Briesau, and the Achensee to the Tiernsee, some of the other places around the lake, such as Geisalm and Buchau, kept the same names in the stories.

"The School at the Chalet", published in 1925, was the first in a long series of books published over the next forty-five years.

Answer: Austria

The eponymous princess came from the fictional kingdom of Belsornia where her grandfather was the King and her father was the Crown Prince. Belsornia, the setting for the early part of the story, is situated somewhere in the Balkans. But the main part of the story is set in and around the school by the fictional Tiernsee. The trip taken during the term to Mayrhofen, however, is completely realistic. The steamer from Briesau (Pertisau in reality) to Seespitz, the mountain train from there to Spartz (Jenbach in reality), and the steam train to Mayrhofen were all still running at the beginning of the twenty-first century, more or less exactly as described by Elinor Brent-Dyer.

"The Princess of the Chalet School" was the third book in the series, and it was first published in 1927.

Answer: Austria

The 'rivals' of the title refers to another school, which had moved from England to the Tyrol. It was established in a new building which was situated on the other side of the lake from the Chalet School, at Buchau. It was the autumn term, and winter came early. After describing several walks along the lake shores, Elinor Brent-Dyer also wrote about an expedition which required climbing part of the way up a mountain and down by another path as the path being used had cracked and broken away because of the cold. Later on some of the girls from the new school skated on the frozen lake, but didn't realise that the part they were using was never safe because of hidden springs under the surface of the ice.

"The Rivals of the Chalet School", originally published in 1929, was the fifth in the series.

Answer: Austria

The girls were still in Austria and planning a Guide camp for the summer holidays. They started from Briesau (really Pertisau) and took the steamer to the far end of the lake at Scholastika where they boarded charabancs to take them to the shores of the Baumersee. Although there are a number of lakes to the north of the Achensee, they are all just over the border in Germany, and none fits the description of the Baumersee, so it appears that the lake is completely fictional.

First published in 1932, "The Chalet Girls in Camp" was the eighth book in the series.

Answer: Austria

The new school (in the previous question), which had been started a few years earlier, closed down and most of their girls joined the Chalet School. They enjoyed adventures and expeditions around the lake and down into the valley of the Inn. In real life, however, the Anschluss had taken place, meaning that the Austrian Tyrol would no longer be such an idyllic setting for the school.

"The New Chalet School" is the thirteenth book of the series. It was first published in 1938, and the last one to be set entirely in Austria.

Answer: United Kingdom

The fourteenth book, "The Chalet School in Exile", tells of how the school was forced to leave Austria, following the Anschluss, and how it had reopened in the Channel Islands. However, World War II started a few days after the opening of the school in Guernsey, so the school had to move again. The following book described how a new home was found for the school. It also included a somewhat hair-raising description of crossing the English Channel in a relatively small boat during the early months of the war. The new setting for the school was in the Golden Valley, near the fictional city of Armiford in Armishire. The Golden valley is a real place not far from Hereford in Herefordshire. Elinor Brent-Dyer's descriptions of Armiford bear an unmistakable resemblance to the city of Hereford, where she was living at the time of writing the book.

In 1941 the fifteenth book in the series was first published; it was called "The Chalet School Goes to It".

Answer: United Kingdom

Flora and Fiona MacDonald, the eponymous twins of the title, had to leave their island home in the Hebrides, because the fictional Erisay was needed by the government. It was still wartime, and the description of the rail journey taken by the twins, with their elder sister, from Scotland via Newcastle to Armiford, had an air raid, and many delays, but the nervous family were reassured by several girls from the women's services, who were sharing the train compartment.

"The Highland Twins at the Chalet School" was the sixteenth book in the series, and first published in 1942.

Answer: United Kingdom

The heroine of the series, Joey Maynard (née Bettany) and her three best friends from school rented a house on the moors in the North Riding of Yorkshire for the summer holiday. Elinor Brent-Dyer described the village and surrounding moorland. She also described the nearby town of Garnley, which is thought to be based on the real town of Helmsley, on the edge of the North York Moors.

"Jo to the Rescue" was the nineteenth book in the series. It was first published in 1945, although the setting is still wartime.

Answer: United Kingdom

The three new girls are Verity-Ann Carey, who had been living with elderly grand-parents in Yorkshire, Mary-Lou Trelawney, who had recently moved to Armishire from Cornwall, and her friend Clemency Barrass, who had moved to the Hebrides from Cornwall, but then been sent away to school. This would be the last book Elinor Brent-Dyer set in Armishire; she decided that something would go wrong with the drains making it necessary for the school to leave their building and find another home in the United Kingdom. The new setting, as described in the twenty-first book, was an island off the coast of Wales, possibly based on Caldey Island, with the real town of Tenby becoming the fictional Carnbach, home of the ferry service to the fictional island of St. Briavel's.

The twentieth book in the series, "Three Go to the Chalet School" was originally published in 1949.

Answer: United Kingdom

It was the Chalet School's third term on the island of St. Briavel's. Carola Johnstone had been living with a cousin for some years while her parents were working in Africa. Carola was increasingly unhappy with her cousin's globe-trotting lifestyle and having lessons with a governess as a consequence. After spending Christmas at a guesthouse in Cornwall, where they met a former pupil of the Chalet School, Carola took matters into her own hands. She and her cousin were due to take a cruise from Southampton to Jamaica, but Carola let the ship, with her cousin aboard, depart without her. Then she made her way by train to south Wales, where she joined the pupils of the school as an apparent new girl. Her parents and the school agreed to her staying, and she enjoyed a half-term trip to Pembroke Castle and the Lily Ponds at Bosherston in south-west Wales.

First published in 1951, "Carola Storms the Chalet School" was the twenty-third book in the series.

Answer: Switzerland

Elinor Brent-Dyer, or her publishers, decided that it was time to move the school back to the Alps. The political situation in Austria was still too unstable, so the Bernese Oberland in the centre of Switzerland was chosen as the location. As with the Austrian settings, the Swiss books mix fact and fiction. It is not apparent that Elinor Brent-Dyer ever visited Switzerland, except, possibly, to pass through it on her way to Austria in the 1920s. However she clearly made extensive use of detailed guidebooks to describe expeditions to many of the nearby cities and towns. The actual location of the school is fictional, but it is set on a shelf above the real town of Interlaken, and has views of the (real) Jungfrau mountain.

The thirtieth book in the series was "The Chalet School and Barbara"; it was originally published in 1954.

Answer: Switzerland

The first part of the book contains detailed information about the journey from England to the school in the Bernese Oberland. The boat train left from Victoria for Dover. Then the ferry took the new mistress and her colleague to Calais, where they boarded the Paris train. In the French capital, there was time for coffee and cakes, before taking the night train to Basle. Arriving at the Swiss border city very early in the morning, the two ladies were able to refresh themselves, and enjoyed a breakfast of coffee, rolls and delicious black cherry jam. The last stage of the journey was taken by car through the lower parts of Switzerland before driving up the steep and windy mountain road from Interlaken to the school. The book also contains descriptions of the mountain shelf where the school was set, and an expedition to a glacier higher up, which was reached by the mountain railway.

"The New Mistress at the Chalet School" was originally published in 1957, and was the thirty-seventh in the series.

Answer: Switzerland

One of the very first pupils had to travel back from her home in New Zealand to sort out some business matters in England. She accepted an invitation to visit her friend, Joey Maynard (nee Bettany), on the way. Joey decided to invite several other friends from the school's Tyrolean days for a reunion. After describing the sea voyage from New Zealand, Elinor Brent-Dyer made good use of her guidebooks and imagination to describe various walks in the local area, as well as visits to real attractions a bit further away. Some of them visited a (fictional) local auberge which was renowned for the echoes across the valley below. Others went to see the Trümmelbach Waterfalls, which are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The fiftieth book in the series, "The Chalet School Reunion", was first published in 1963.

Answer: Switzerland

Flavia Ansell, one of several pupils at the school who have red hair, is sent to Switzerland by her step-father to keep her safe. He is a police detective at Scotland Yard, who has been hunting down a criminal gang, and he is afraid that she might be in danger from them. He takes her as far as Besançon in France by train. There she is met by two of the mistresses who drive her the rest of the way to school through France and Switzerland. Unfortunately, the gang track her down to the school, but mistakenly kidnap another red-haired girl, before realising their mistake.

"Redheads at the Chalet School" was the fifty-second book in the series, and it was originally published in 1964.

Answer: Switzerland

The story is set in the second half of the Summer term of the last year at the Chalet School written about by Elinor Brent-Dyer. As well as exploring the mountain setting in Switzerland, the girls were also able to take trips down the mountain to Interlaken. There they travelled a little way out of the town and enjoyed swimming and boating in and on Lake Thun.

The fifty-eighth book, first published in 1970, was "Prefects of the Chalet School". It was the last Chalet School story written by Elinor Brent-Dyer, who died in 1969.