Yesterday, late afternoon, the eight most active members of the weekend group (the others were having an afternoon nap) joined me for a “country walk” across the footpaths and down to the village. No sooner had we set off than a car pulled up, wound down the window and revealed a friend that I hadn’t seen for some time plus her husband and one daughter and a very large dog. They also had a creature that they found on the road outside The Gables and, assuming that it had escaped from our menagerie, had knocked on our door to be greeted by a man who wasn’t Jeremy. It was a guest who knew nothing of the escapee. They were relieved to find me until I told them that said live contents of their shopping bag was not a resident of The Gables. They asked me to take it in as it would not get on with their large dog. So my crew and I continued on our walk and they turned round and took the creature back to our house and put it in a box in the cat barn. How exciting.

After our hour or so walk we returned to find a box inside which was a dish of water and……….the TORTOISE! So now, the problem was where to house the little creature safely and many minds turned to this conundrum. After several false starts and a few disagreements he (or she) was placed in one of the small chicken houses in the chicken run with some cabbage leaves and a dish of water. I posted a message on the village internet group to see who might have lost their pet. This morning I await a call and several of us of have checked on Mr Tortoise and he is alive and moving and, we hope, comfortable.