Page 12 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Phoebe and Sam were still talking about it a couple of weeks later as they walked around the newly fenced dog field.

‘It’s a good job Dougie saw the funny side,’ Sam said. ‘But I wish I’d seen Marcus vaulting over the five-bar gate. Did you say he did it in one hit? I bet that was impressive.’

‘It was.’ Phoebe chuckled, and her eyes lit with amusement at the memory. ‘Who knew Marcus was so agile! Apparently he and Natasha have got a gym membership. God knows when they find time to go there.’

‘No.’ Sam paused to look upwards. ‘Dougie’s done a great job on the fence.’

He never had said anything to Phoebe about his reservations over the now much smaller area next door.

She had been happy again lately. It would have felt selfish to stir things up unnecessarily.

Ninja was OK, although he still didn’t get ridden as much as Sam would have liked.

Unbeknown to Phoebe, he’d been putting out feelers at Brook Stables to see if anyone was looking for a horse on loan.

That would feel less final than selling him.

So far no one was. It was the wrong time of year to take on a horse – with all the dark evenings and cold weather ahead. Summer was the best time. Sam hadn’t given up though. There must be someone who would want to take on his beloved horse.

‘He has done a good job. I’m pleased.’ Phoebe’s voice jolted Sam back to the present.

She was running her hands over the sturdy stock fence that now enclosed just over two acres of what had once been part of the donkey field.

It was eight foot high, tall enough to deter even the most determined of escapee dogs.

Floodlights were installed at intervals around the fencing so the field could be used on the darker winter mornings and nights that lay ahead.

Sam had nailed up poo bag dispensers at regular intervals too with notices, knocked up by Eddie, that said, ‘Please clear up after your dog.’

Phoebe and Maggie had had great fun sourcing some dog toys.

They’d got balls on ropes, ball throwers and various tuggy toys, some from charity shops in Bridgeford, and Natasha had asked the Puddleduck Pets team of staff and volunteers for donations.

These were all in an old wooden trunk that Maggie had found left over from her move, and this was now just inside the gate of the dog field.

Eddie had painted on the front: ‘Please replace toys when finished for other dogs to enjoy.’

The humans hadn’t been left out either. Phoebe had sourced a second-hand shed from Gumtree, which Sam and his father had collected, dismantled and re-erected in one corner of the field.

It was wired up to electricity and even had a kettle and selection of teas and coffees and hot chocolates with an honesty box so dog owners could have a cuppa while their dogs played safely in the field.

Alongside the shed they’d put a pub-style picnic table and chairs so there was somewhere to sit, should an owner want to chill out with their drink. There was also a clock, a subtle reminder that the field was hired by the hour and wasn’t indefinitely available.

In the end, the creation of the dog field had been a good diversion for both of them, Sam thought.

They’d spent less time together than usual, or at least that’s how it had seemed to him, because although they had a common aim, one or other of them would usually be looking after Lily. So they passed like ships in the night.

They’d been too busy and too tired to talk about anything else for the last fortnight. Maybe that was a good thing. Sam had a theory about sadness – the less you pandered to it, the smaller it would become. And throwing yourself totally into a project definitely gave you less time to think.

Although just occasionally when he saw Snowball heading out for a night’s hunting or coming back from one in the morning, he found himself envying his cat’s freedom to come and go as he pleased.

* * *

Phoebe wasn’t quite as oblivious as Sam thought she was to his current state of mind, but she had put his quietness down to the huge adjustment they were both making to parenthood. Of course it was hard for new parents. It was the one thing everyone agreed on. The first few months were tough.

If you could get through it without any major upsets you were doing well.

And from that point of view they were smashing it.

She was pleased that Sam had been so interested in the dog field.

He’d always liked being outside and he’d thrown himself into helping with a vigour she hadn’t seen since before Lily was born.

She had a feeling he was relieved not to have to be at Hendrie’s so much.

She knew that in an ideal world he’d have spent less time in the Post Office and Stores and more time focusing on riding lessons.

That wasn’t possible at the moment, but he could go back to it when Lily was older. They wouldn’t be this busy forever.

Maggie had said the dog field should have a name.

So it would have its own branding, separate from Puddleduck Pets and Puddleduck Vets, and after some brainstorming, she, Phoebe and Natasha had come up with The Puddleduck Pooch and Mooch.

Eddie had made two signs. One for the shed and one for the access gate on the road.

Visitors hiring the dog field would be able to get in via a gate on the road that bordered Puddleduck Farm, so they didn’t have to come with their possibly reactive dogs through Puddleduck Farm itself.

This gate would be kept padlocked at night, with a key safe in case anyone was interested in hiring the field during the hours of darkness, when it would otherwise be kept locked.

The most difficult thing to set up had been the website with its automated booking and payment system.

Luckily, one of the volunteers was a genius with websites and Phoebe had paid her to create an all-singing, all-dancing website with The Puddleduck Pooch and Mooch logo on it, which was a silhouette of a person and a dog, walking, and it was looking fabulous.

Visitors would be able to book a twenty-five or fifty-five-minute slot, which allowed five minutes for changeovers.

They could also do package deals of six slots in advance, and as an incentive they’d get the sixth one free.

There was a form that needed to be filled in with the owner’s name, address and car registration, as well as all the details of the dogs they were bringing, which had to be signed to say they were up to date with their vaccinations and wormers.

There was also a section where visitors had to declare whether they were bringing an XL bully dog and if so that they had it registered.

The whole thing had been done on a very tight budget.

It had been a real team effort and the best thing about it, Phoebe thought, was that it had been done at record speed.

The dog field was still scheduled to be up and running by Halloween.

There were just a few little techie glitches with the website still to sort out.

‘It’s a pity we’re just coming into the winter months,’ Phoebe said to Natasha when they were chatting about it one lunchtime a couple of days before Halloween. ‘But at least we’ve got everything sorted now, and it can start earning some money.’

‘Dougie and Sarah are thrilled about it,’ Natasha told her.

‘They’re planning to bring Romi and Lunar over four or five times a week.

They both love people, but they’re not so keen on their own kind and they tend to run if they see another dog, so the secure field’s perfect for them.

Are you OK with them coming that much? Sarah was asking.

She said they didn’t want to take the mickey by abusing the fact they’re getting their slots for nothing. ’

‘They can bring them every day as far as I’m concerned, as long as they book out the slot,’ Phoebe said happily. ‘They’d have to come over an awful lot before we get even close to reaching the proper cost of that fencing. It’s great. Thanks so much for suggesting it.’

‘Everyone’s helped make it a reality,’ Natasha said, with her usual understated humility. ‘I’m just pleased it will help raise money for our animals and that it can tick along without too much extra work from us.’

Phoebe nodded. There was some work involved, of course.

Fields needed maintenance, grass cutting being one of the regular jobs that would be necessary, and the poo dustbin needed to be emptied daily.

Also, she knew she couldn’t totally rely on dog owners to clear up after their dogs.

The field needed to be checked periodically.

Fortunately there was a field water supply already in situ that they used for the donkeys, so water was on tap for the dogs too.

Also, luckily, the field was on a slight slope which meant it was well drained.

They shouldn’t have too much of a mud problem even during the wettest times of year.

As the field would be officially open on 31 October, Phoebe, Maggie and Natasha had decided to introduce a Halloween theme for the first week.

Maggie and Eddie had got a giant poster of a Halloween scene, a dark forest, complete with a scary-looking gothic castle and evil orange grinning pumpkins and stuck the whole thing on a board, which Eddie then cellophaned over in case it rained.

The board was propped up against the shed in view of the picnic table, and, as Maggie said, it would make a great photo opportunity, just in case anyone should want to share photos on their social media.

Spider webs made out of black rope were strung up around the entrance of the shed as well as some actual real pumpkins that they’d left in a basket on the picnic table.

Thanks to an advertorial in New Forest Views , for which Tori had waived the cost because Puddleduck Pets was a charity, they were booked up solid for the whole of November.

But their very first customers and star guests would be Dougie and Sarah with Romi and Lunar.

Phoebe had invited them to take the first slot ever which would be at 10a.m. on 31 October, which fortuitously fell on a Saturday.

Puddleduck Vets was open as it always was on a Saturday, but Phoebe wasn’t working and Seth had promised that as long as it was quiet enough, one or two of her staff would pop down at ten.

‘We can be rent a crowd. We should make a thing of it. Will you be needing me to smash any bottles of champagne or cut any ribbons?’

Phoebe had laughed. When she’d opened Puddleduck Vets they’d had an official launch party and it had been Seth who’d cut the ribbon then.

‘I wasn’t going to do anything that official, but now you come to mention it, I think I’ve still got a bit of that ribbon.’ She met his eyes. ‘Much as I’d like you to cut it, I think I’d better ask Natasha. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t suggested it.’

Seth nodded. ‘I heartily approve of that plan.’

Natasha was thrilled when Phoebe mooted the idea to her. ‘I’d love to. I’ve never been asked to open anything before. I don’t have to make a speech though, do I?’

‘How about, “I declare The Puddleduck Pooch and Mooch open to the public,”’ Phoebe suggested.

‘That doesn’t sound too difficult.’

‘We might have to film it and put it on social media.’

‘I’ll get my hair done then.’ She giggled. ‘Actually, I probably won’t. But I won’t wear anything too old and tatty.’

‘I don’t mind what you wear.’

Phoebe’s parents had said they’d come over for the unofficial opening too.

It was trickier for Sam’s parents because Hendrie’s busiest day was Saturday, but Maggie and Eddie would be there, of course.

Tori had said she’d come and take any photos or video footage that needed doing, which was great because Tori was well practised at all of that.

The only thing left to do, Phoebe decided, was to pray for sunshine.

Her weather app wasn’t very optimistic on that front.

It was currently forecasting a 72 per cent chance of rain at 10a.m. on Halloween.