Bill and Joyce sell up Hurst Road to buy a guest house on the South Coast. The young family moves in at Pine Ridge Hotel on the Lansdowne Road in Bournemouth. The little garden comes with a resident tame squirrel, later tragically poisoned by a paranoid caretaker of a nearby school. After a few trial years the hotel settles into a routine of an active summer season and winter repairs with the opportunity for family breaks. Living in a hotel offers the opportunity for Carol of paid work waitressing and later, accommodation for college pals.

The girls settle in at local schools and make new friends. Carol goes to Glenmoor where she adopts two of the netball team as best mates to ward off the bullies. Later she goes on to Sixth Form at Bournemouth School for Girls.

Carol learns to play piano with Mrs Hellewell and flourishes. She rattles through the grades and falls in love with Chopin and Debussy and participates in the Scott Joplin revival following the release of "The Sting".

Carol gets her first taste for foreign travel with a school cruise of the Mediterranean on the SS Uganda and a trip to Australia with a school friend.