The village that brought Stig of the Dump to life

Children's novel Stig of the Dump has never been out of print since it was published in 1963

The village of Ash, near Sevenoaks, in Kent, may be small in size, but it is undoubtedly big in reputation, having inspired the children's classic Stig of the Dump.

Published in 1963, and never out of print since, the late author Clive King drew on his childhood there when crafting a novel which caught the collective imagination.

Stig of the Dump tells the story of Barney, a young boy who becomes firm friends with Stig, a caveman he discovers living at the bottom of a chalk pit.

Michael Kieran Fryer, who moved to Ash when he was about nine-years-old, jokes that he was original Stig.

"I always told our grandkids I was Stig - it was just a muck about thing really," he told Secret Kent.

"As soon as I heard the story, I thought, 'that's me'... other kids did it and all, but I was always down there [in the pit] early."

Mr Fryer recalled there being a chalk pit in the village which could yield all types of finds.

He said: "It was like Christmas every day there... get there early and you could always find three or four bikes, paints, cars - anything mechanical."

Jane Scott, who has lived in Ash for nearly 50 years, said her children and grandchildren always visualised being in the book.

She said: "That's what they used to do - we're really lucky, because children could just wander about... and they still do actually, come down here and play in the woods and pretend to be Barney and Stig."

Describing the novel's legacy as "wonderful" for "so many generations", Mrs Scott believes Ash is proud of its links to the classic.

When asked for the secret to its enduring success, she said: "I suppose it's just sort of magical, it's another world that children can dream into."