Page 65 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

Flora had been amazed by Nico’s suggestion that they give the three empty tents to families in the community that might not otherwise be able to afford a holiday.

‘I absolutely agree with the idea,’ she told him, that afternoon. ‘But are you sure they’re going to want to be camping with this weather?’ She gestured at the kitchen window, out of which she could see that the rain was still falling in a heavy downpour. The long-range forecast had given hope that it might dry up by the bank holiday Monday, but that was two days away yet.

‘According to Tyson, he says any change will be like a holiday for them.’

‘Well, here’s hoping you’re right,’ she said, glancing through the window once more. ‘Because I think that’s Tyson and his family arriving now.’

They put on their coats and headed outside.

Tyson mum’s wound down the driver’s window of her car and smiled at them nervously. ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘Listen, if you’ve changed your mind, I totally understand.’

She looked pale and weary, thought Flora. As if the woman had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

‘We’d love to have you here,’ Flora told her. ‘If you can put up with the weather!’

‘Oh, we don’t care about that, do we, boys?’ She looked in her mirror and Flora saw a boy of around ten years old sitting in the back seat. He looked pale and wide-eyed as he stared out of the car window at the farm.

However, his big brother Tyson in the front passenger seat was looking excited enough for them all. ‘It’s gonna be epic, Kevin,’ he said. ‘You should see the games area. They’ve even got a football table.’

The younger boy raised his eyebrows. ‘I love those,’ he said.

‘I know,’ said Tyson, giving Nico a nod through the window.

‘Right,’ said Nico. ‘We’ll show you where to park and then which tent is all yours.’

However, when they began to walk through the gate into the field, Tyson’s mum stopped Flora once more. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked once more. ‘I mean, what about the cost?’

‘You’d actually be doing us a favour,’ said Flora. ‘We need the campsite at full capacity to make sure that everything works properly as we’ve only just opened up. So it’s a trial run and it’ll really help us out. So don’t worry. There’s no expense on you at all. Just your food and drink.’

‘Oh, I’ve got a packed car boot full of our usual stuff, so that’s no worries,’ said the woman before frowning. ‘Of course, I don’t know where we’ll cook it.’

‘We’ve actually just set up a cooking area,’ Flora told her. ‘There’s a barbeque and a stove too. So you can use those.’

Their friends’ idea had been inspired. Everyone didn’t want to venture too far in the bad weather but had had to leave the campsite to get some hot food. So Joe had brought over the barbeque. Nico had bought some charcoal and left the barbeque under a gazebo just outside the barn so that hopefully it would give some shelter from the elements but also not be too smoky inside the barn. Grams had brought down the camping stove that they used during the frequent power cuts during the winter storms. That had got a proper clean-up and was left on the side in the barn for people to use.

Grams had also left out a large Victoria sponge for people to enjoy, as well as some home-made biscuits.

‘This is amazing,’ said Tyson’s mum when they went inside the tent for the first time. She looked around with wide eyes. ‘It’s about the prettiest place we’ve ever stayed in.’

‘It’s magical,’ said Kevin, looking up to the high peak of the ceiling, dotted with fairy lights which Flora had already switched on in the dark gloom of the day.

‘The sofa is a bed as well,’ Flora told them. ‘So you can all sleep wherever you like.’

Tyson’s mum was stroking the soft bedding on the bed. ‘How wonderful,’ she said. ‘This is going to be so different to our normal weekends.’

‘Well, there’s going to be a tennis table tournament later,’ Nico told them. ‘The big barn is the place to be. There are other families there so you’ll be amongst friends. Join us whenever you want.’

* * *

Later that evening, Flora was pleased to see both the boys playing with some new friends they had met on the campsite. The table tennis competition was hotting up whilst everyone else relaxed and chatted, drinking and eating their dinner under the cover of the barn.

Tyson’s mum was already booked in for a hand massage at the lavender spa the following day and Flora had assured her the boys would be in safe hands in the meantime with Ryan and Bob showing them the steam engine.

Someone had even found a football somewhere and as the rain had temporarily eased off, some of the boys and dads were kicking the ball around outside in the field.

Flora found Nico watching them with a wistful smile on his face.

‘Did you ever want to be a footballer when you grew up?’ she asked.