Page 38 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Not everyone was taking a dog. Maggie had said she was going to leave Buster and Tiny behind. ‘It’s a bit too far for Buster, these days, and Tiny’s getting lazy in his old age. He’d rather be asleep on the sofa.’

Phoebe and Sam were taking Roxie. Louella and James had volunteered to look after Lily, as some of the paths weren’t very buggy friendly. Tori had said her mum was looking after Vanessa-Rose too.

‘Rufus has got Harrison doing something or other on the estate,’ she had told Phoebe. ‘I think it might be linked to Mission Cat Rescue, but he was a bit vague.’

‘Harrison isn’t walking then?’

‘No, he said he does enough walking at work, but he did give me quite a big donation towards my target, so I’ve let him off the hook.’

The day of the sponsored walk was forecast to be unseasonably warm with an 80 per cent chance of sunshine. And the forecasters were right; it began with a blue sky and sunshine.

‘We’re so lucky,’ Phoebe said to Sam as they waved goodbye to Lily, who was happily playing with Granny Louella, and took an excited Roxie on her lead out to the car. ‘It wouldn’t have mattered if it was wet, but it’s much nicer to have sunshine.’

‘Absolutely.’ He caught her hand. ‘It’s lovely to be doing something together. It’s a pity we couldn’t bring Lily.’

‘She can come along when she’s a bit older.’

There were already lots of cars in the car park when they arrived. And as people began to get out and Phoebe caught more and more glimpses of the yellow duster tee-shirts, she realised most of them were filled with people here to do the sponsored walk.

Archie and Emilia, also both proudly in yellow, waved at her from where they stood beside Rufus’s Land Rover. There was no sign of Rufus and they hadn’t brought Chesska, so maybe she was with her dad, but Archie had brought Spot and Chloe along and they were all sniffs and excited wags.

Tori had just got out of her car too, and was heading over. She had her camera strung around her neck, Phoebe saw. She’d promised to take some photos for marketing and do a write-up for New Forest Views .

‘I’m going to do some impromptu pics as we walk, but I’ll take a few more formal shots before we go.’ Tori’s green eyes flashed with enthusiasm. ‘I’d better get started, I think. It’ll be like herding cats, trying to get this lot into one place.’

She was right. It took at least five minutes to get the sponsored walkers into a group that she could fit into one shot.

‘Tall people at the back, short ones at the front,’ she bossed. ‘And I want to see your lovely tee-shirts. Can everyone unzip their coats, please?’

That took another few minutes, but finally they were ready and Tori took several photos of them all against the backdrop of the ancient old oaks and beeches.

By ten o’clock, Phoebe had counted at least twenty-seven heads. It was very heartwarming. The only disappointment was that Maggie and Eddie hadn’t arrived. Phoebe had just got a text saying not to wait for them. They’d needed to see to something but would catch them up.

It was time to go. Natasha and Marcus set off at a brisk pace along the wide sandy path that led away from the car park.

‘Don’t worry, no one will get lost,’ Natasha assured Phoebe and Sam.

‘Most people have got a map, and a couple of the volunteers have agreed they’ll stay at the back to make sure stragglers know where they’re going. ’

‘The beauty of this walk,’ Marcus added, ‘is that it curls back around on itself a couple of times. It’s like two great big figures of eight.

So if anyone gets tired they can drop out or have a rest in their cars for a break, or even stop for lunch halfway through.

But it’s not that far, so I doubt many people will. ’

Sam and Phoebe fell into step beside Tori and Emilia and Archie and there was a lot of chatter about babies, and then about Archie’s horse-riding escapades, and finally about what he was doing at school.

‘Is it still OK for me to come and do some more work experience in the summer?’ he asked Phoebe. ‘I’ve definitely decided I’m going to be a vet.’

‘Of course it is. You’re always welcome. Just let me know the dates so I can make sure we have something exciting to do.’

‘At least I think I’m going to be a vet,’ Archie added thoughtfully. ‘My Plan B is to work with lions on safari in Africa.’

‘Crikey,’ Sam said. ‘That sounds exciting.’

‘It will be. Have you ever treated a lion, Phoebe?’

‘No, I can’t say I have. Although I’ll tell you who may have done.’ Phoebe shielded her eyes and looked around them. ‘Do you see that lady over there with Max? The one with the red coat and dark hair?’

‘Yeah. I see her. Who is she?’

‘Her name’s India. She’s Max’s girlfriend. She’s a vet and she specialises in exotics. She’s seen pythons and all sorts. She might have treated a lion.’

‘Wow. That’s so cool. Do you think she’d mind if I interviewed her? I’ve got to do a piece for our school mag.’

‘I don’t think she’d mind at all.’

‘I’ll ask her now.’ Archie zigzagged away across the path, avoiding dogs and walkers, and a few moments later Phoebe saw him tap India’s shoulder.

‘He’s so confident now,’ Phoebe said to Emilia.

‘He’s never been that backwards in going further,’ Emilia said and frowned. ‘Is that the correct expression?’

‘No.’ Phoebe explained what it was and Emilia rolled her eyes. ‘I can never get my mouth around your English expressions. They do not make proper sense to me.’

‘Me neither,’ Sam said, and they all laughed.

It was ages since she and Sam had walked together in the forest, Phoebe thought, even if they weren’t alone.

She glanced at his profile as they strolled side by side in a steady rhythm with Roxie trotting along not far from them.

There were a few other dogs and she recognised some that had been rehomed from Puddleduck Pets.

Once again she felt warmed that so many people had turned out for them.

The forest was alive with spring. It had swapped its cloak of winter drabness for one of vibrant green and yellow.

Everything was in bud or new leaf. Bright green ferns uncurled into the woodland and splashes of early bluebells were visible so that it looked as though a beautiful lilac carpet wound itself between the trees.

The air smelled of earthiness and woody green freshness.

The chatter of walkers and the clomp of their walking boots was all around them.

After about forty-five minutes of walking, the group had split up into fast walkers who’d already disappeared into the distance and been swallowed up by the trees and a long tail of slower walkers stretching out behind them.

Phoebe, Sam, Tori, Emilia and Archie were somewhere in the middle-to-end section.

Phoebe realised they couldn’t be that far from Rufus’s land. She could hear the sound of a distant chainsaw. Maybe that’s what he’d got Harrison doing today. Chopping down trees. Oh well, he was probably happier doing that. Harrison had never been a great socialite.

‘I thought Maggie was coming today,’ Tori remarked, ‘but I didn’t see her at the start. Is she OK?’

‘Yes, she’s fine. She texted to say she and Eddie had something they needed to do but they would definitely see us on the walk and not to wait for them. She didn’t want to hold us up.’

‘That’s good news then. How’s the Voice for Wildlife campaign going?’ Tori asked. ‘Did you want me to do any more features to tie in with dates? Easter bunnies maybe?’

Phoebe told her about Connie and the wild rabbit, and she gasped. ‘That sounds amazing. Should I put that in the mag? Actually, on second thoughts, maybe I’d better not. We probably shouldn’t be encouraging people to befriend wild rabbits.’

‘No, it’s a shame, but I think you’re right. No more cute photos.’ Phoebe had told Tori in the end about the woman whose husband had been prompted to buy her an African pygmy hedgehog after reading the feature about them in New Forest Views and Tori had been horrified.

Now, Phoebe turned towards Emilia. ‘Are we very close to Rufus’s land, do you know?’ The sounds of a chainsaw were getting louder.

‘I do not know,’ Emilia said. ‘But maybe…’

‘I think we’re pretty close to the back boundary,’ Tori said. ‘Hey? Maybe it’s Harrison making that godawful racket.’ Tori shook her head in exasperation. ‘And there’s us all trying to have a nice peaceful country walk on a Sunday afternoon. You’d think they could have held off until tomorrow.’

Phoebe was about to joke that they’d have to put in an official complaint when they came out into a clearing alongside some newly felled trees.

‘I think we’ve gone wrong somewhere,’ Emilia said, looking at the map in her hand. ‘We’ve come off the main path, haven’t we?’

Archie looked over her shoulder. ‘Yes, it looks like we took the wrong fork a little while ago. Oh, no. Shall we turn back?’

‘Just a minute,’ Emilia said. ‘Let’s go and see what’s going on here.’

The path they were on had narrowed and ran close to the back gardens of some posh-looking houses which had high wooden fences.

It looked as though some workmen had been felling trees close by.

There were a couple of warning signs up about the dangers of log felling and the strong smell of freshly sawn wood.

‘We’ve definitely wandered off route,’ Sam said. ‘We must have somehow missed the warning signs further up the path too. Looks like those guys did as well.’ He pointed through the trees towards another small clearing.

A group of sponsored walkers, identifiable by their duster-yellow tee-shirts, were standing in a cluster watching someone in a high-vis jacket saw through the trunk of a big tree. As he did so, someone else detached themselves from the cluster and came trotting down the path towards them.

Phoebe saw to her amazement that it was Maggie. How had she got up here ahead of them without her noticing?

The old lady was gesturing by putting her palms up in front of her that they stop where they were, and they all did as they were bid.

‘I think you’ll be out of range there,’ Maggie said, giving them a beaming smile. ‘But it’s better to be safe than sorry. He’s only got one more tree to go apparently, but it’s a big one. Dogs on leads would probably be safest too.’

Archie called Chloe and Spot and snapped on their leads and Sam put Roxie’s on too. Then they all looked back at the tree feller.

‘He’s a bit close to those garden fences,’ Sam said, frowning. ‘I hope his tree’s going to fall the right way. Otherwise it’ll be in one of those gardens.’

‘Oh, I think he knows what he’s doing,’ Maggie said cheerily. ‘He’s had plenty of practice.’

‘It is Harrison,’ Tori said, her eyes widening in surprise as they all paused to watch. ‘Blimey. He is a bit close. But yes, you’re right, he does know what he’s doing.’

‘Timber!’ yelled Harrison, and they all watched in expectation as the tree began to topple.

‘It’s not falling the right way,’ Archie shouted. ‘Look at that.’

‘It’s going to hit that garden fence.’ Sam’s eyes were wide.

Then there was a frozen moment of shock as the huge old beech tree came down in what seemed like a slow-motion horror movie before it smashed across the fence with an almighty crash, splintering it like matchwood.