In this novel, a young girl called Penelope visits Thackers, a remote, ancient farmhouse, and finds herself travelling back in time to join in the lives of the sixteenth-century occupants of the house, the Babingtons.
I remember being completely fascinated by the idea of opening a door and stepping back in time.
So, years later, when the story was re-printed by Puffin, I was keen to introduce it to the nine- to ten-year-old pupils in my class.
At first, I thought that the novel might be too difficult for them but, not wanting to underestimate their ability, I decided to read it to them.
We started with chapter 3, The Herb Garden', and I encouraged the children to doodle while they were listening - to draw whatever came into their heads.
There was not a sound as I read aloud for about half an hour. Each child was completely absorbed.
Their doodles proved that they did understand. In fact, these were not doodles - they were carefully thought out illustrations.
The variety was astonishing - there was meat roasting on the spit in the kitchen; a cooking pot in an intricate fireplace and a knot garden.
One particularly interesting drawing showed Tabitha, the serving maid, kissing Tom Snowball, the gardener, while Penelope was peeping over the hedge.
Another depicted the farmhouse, viewed as if the artist was standing by the cedar tree in the middle of the lawn and looking forward.
Next, the children produced some interesting written work describing a step back in time to the inside of a Tudor house.
Some started their work by imagining they were on a school visit to a Tudor house and passing through a door, like Penelope.
At this stage, we read another time travel tale, The Time Garden by Edward Eager, which involves stepping back in time to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Roger, Ann, Jack and Eliza meet a talking toad in a magic garden and learn that, if they rub a sprig of thyme and sniff its fragrance, they can become time travellers.
The pupils tried some creative writing. They were asked 'What would happen if Elizabeth I travelled forward through time and appeared in our classroom?'. The highlight of the project was a visit to Tretower Court, near Crickhowell, Powys, where Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments was organising 'A Little Tudor Experience'. It involved a pageant of puppetry in the rooms of this historic house, performed by students of the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
It seemed as if we really had stepped back in time -particularly as the students were wearing Tudor costume.
The children were totally engrossed in what the puppets had to tell them about life in Tudor times. A few weeks later, the children had another opportunity to step back in time through drama.
They took part in a play, Away From Home, performed by members of the Spectacle Theatre, which travels around schools.
The theme, of evacuees in the Second World War, was not familiar to the children and so the drama was completely fresh and exciting.
Initially, they saw a young girl, Jean, hearing the news that war had been declared. They watched her emerge from an air-raid shelter to find that her home had been flattened by bombs. Jean had to be evacuated. Suddenly, the children found that they were to be evacuees too. This was no longer make-believe, it was real. At break time the next day, a group of children made up their own version of the play and performed it in front of the rest of the class. Astonishingly, they repeated the drama of the previous day almost word for word.
Other children wrote poems about leaving home and attempted group poetry based on the character and experiences of the German prisoner of war who featured in the play. They wrote about how they felt when he was shot and discussed the reasons why.
Another compelling time travel fiction story for children is The Fate of Jeremy Visick by David Wiseman (Puffin) which unites past and present through the lives of two boys, Jeremy and Matthew. A tombstone and its inscription exert a powerful influence on Matthew, who comes close to disaster when he tries to discover the link between himself and the tragic death of the young miner, Jeremy.
We decided to use this novel as part of a project on the theme of 'Children at work'.
We began by reading aloud chapter 16 which shows Matthew and Jeremy at work in a Cornish copper mine.
The children were so spellbound that we went on to read the whole novel.
The children were eager to learn about the origins of the story. They wrote to the author, telling him how much they had enjoyed The Fate of Jeremy Visick and asked a number of questions.
The next step in our project on 'Children at work' was to read A Chance Child, by Jill Paton Walsh (Puffin).
In this story, Creep, an unwanted child, escapes from his present-day miserable existence by taking a boat along the canal. He slips into the past, into a world of ill-treated children who work down coal mines, in forges, potteries and in mills.
Pictures and documents from Quarry Bank Mill at Styal in Cheshire provided extra stimulus.
We also watched a television programme about the mill, which showed children from the present day in historical dress, experiencing life in the cotton mill.
We wrote to a number of museums featuring coalmining, ironworking and potteries. However, the children were eager to visit one in particular - Big Pit at Blaenavon in Gwent.
It was an experience neither I nor the children will ever forget.
As we went down into the mine in the lift-cage, we thought about the things we had read about in A Chance Child and The Fate of Jeremy Visick. Then, when we were deep below the surface, we turned off the lights on our helmets, just for a moment, and experienced total blackness. There are passages in the two stories which describe the feeling exactly.
'Children at work' was followed by a project on 'Children at school in Victorian times'. We visited Maestir School, at the Welsh Folk Museum in St Pagans, near Cardiff, for a morning session of role play. Both children and teachers had to dress in Victorian clothes - the boys in knee breeches and caps and the girls in white pinafores. We assembled outside the museum where we met Mr Jones the museum's Education Officer who, clad in black, looked every inch the stern Victorian schoolmaster.
He marched us off in pairs, without speaking, along the lane to Maestir School.
Our morning's work there consisted of drill in the yard, handwriting exercises and reading aloud, followed by a tonic sol-fa lesson!
Further work on our 'Travellers in time' theme included reading aloud The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch (Oxford University Press - out of print *). This is the story of Peter Staunton who is taken back in time to the fourteenth century, after trying on a rusted metal gauntlet which he finds near the ruinous castle of Carreg Cennen.
The narrative gives an authentic picture of life in the Middle Ages. Much of the action takes place at Carreg Cennen. However, there is also a joust at Kidwelly Castle nearby and a visit to the Abbey of Valle Crucis.
The children wrote some delightful accounts of what it would be like for a time traveller to attend a medieval dinner and how to train a falcon.
Our final venture was based on The Ship that Flew by Hilda Lewis (Oxford University Press - out of print*).
In this story four children go on adventures to times past by means of a magic Viking ship which grows to accommodate them and shrinks to pocket-size when not needed.
Much of the writing which followed was based on the children's own ideas.
They were quick to see possibilities for stories, poems and artwork.
Poems described what could be seen from the Viking ship when it was up in the air or what it was like travelling at night; there were reports of going back in time through a black time-cloud and collages of the little wooden ship in the sky with the black cloud racing towards it.
All of these time travel stories helped the children to develop a real sense of pleasure when reading.
They gained satisfaction from their achievements and developed a high expectation of their own performance.
They also learned to question and discuss the books they read and I was constantly impressed by their perceptions.