STORYBOOK characters will bring popular children’s stories to life in the grounds of a South Oxfordshire manor house hosting the second Oxfordshire Children’s Read-A-Thon.

Milton Manor, near Didcot, will be filled with actors playing characters from Beatrix Potter, JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo, alongside children’s authors and poets.

The family day is run by volunteers and hopes to encourage more children to read for pleasure – aiming to boost literacy in the same way as the latest stage of the Oxfordshire Reading Campaign, backed by the National Literacy Trust.

Event organiser and Oxfordshire literacy teacher of more than 35 years Anne Wattam said: “I really want to do something to encourage children to read and develop a passion for reading.

“I have been a Key Stage 1 teacher for over 35 years and seen many changes, the biggest being Literacy and Numeracy Hour. That squeezed out the timetable for children reading one-on-one.

“The event is to make being able to read and reading for pleasure not a lifestyle choice but a necessity. Some pupils are coming out of school illiterate and we need to change that.

“We also need to support parents that can’t for many reasons support their own children to also read at home.

“We are really keen to attract children who wouldn’t normally come to an event linked solely to books and reading.

“By bringing the characters to life, making storytelling an adventure and meeting inspirational authors and poets, we hope to fire their imagination and develop a life-long passion for reading.”

The first Children’s Read-A-Thon was held in 2013 and brought in about 2,000 visitors.

It is hoped this year's event on Saturday, September 12, will be as big a hit and mark the family day as an annual event.

Parts of the manor will be transformed into storybook settings, with a a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and the lily pond becoming the mermaids’ lagoon from Peter Pan.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden will be portrayed in the walled garden, Peter Pan in the pan-themed tree house and The Gruffalo will hide in The Gruffalo Walk. There is also an interactive zone with ipads and ebooks and a character hunt for children to win prizes.

Author and illustrator David Melling – creator of the Hugless Douglas series – will be at the read-a-thon.

Guest of honour will be Oxfordshire’s Vice-Lord Lieutenant John Harwood, who will open the event.

It will run from noon to 5pm and organisers are asking for £1 donations towards running costs, with children aged two and under free.