PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT and SATURDAY CRITTERS

For October's Photo Scavenger Hunt, I am doing something a little different.   I have been encouraging a friend over the summer to write short stories and as she is always up for a challenge, I decided to ask her to write a story around the photographs and word prompts for this month. However she was a little busy so I decided to have a go myself of WRITING a story.  So sit back and enjoy what I have come up with in story and photographs.   

The word prompts will be in CAPITALS and in bold.

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Every summer was exciting because in July and August the two sets of cousins came together when the families rented cottages on Mr Browns farm.   Although this farm was in the countryside, it was also a short walk to the sea and a wonderful beach. Mr Brown was FAMILIAR at seeing the children around his farm.  The blond bomb shells were Colleen and Charlie who lived on the Isle of Wight and the ginger heads were David and Daisy, from Australia.

TODAY began their summer adventures on the farm.  

They had named themselves ‘The Formidable Four'.

Early the first morning, it had been agreed for each of them to pack a bag with drinks and any goodies they could find in their Mum’s cupboards, start off as dawn broke, meeting outside cottage NUMBER 3.  

Colleen who was the oldest, was WRITING a note for Mum telling her they were off on an adventure when Charlie told her to stop wasting time and hurry up.

Quietly they crept out of bed while their parents slept, dressed, remembering to put on their boots, raided the fridge and tins of baking that Colleen's Dad had done for this holiday.  He is a chef.  Opened the first gate and although it creaked terribly, no one else was up to hear it.  David said his Dad would probably have WD40 to sort that out later.  They were amazed how the dew was highlighting the MANY cobwebs on the brambles in the hedgerows. Daisy, who was the poetic one among them, thought they looked like diamonds sparkling in the morning sun.

David had brought his binoculars as he was interested in getting to know the birds in the UK.  He had been a birder in Australia for 4 years now and even thought he might like to work as an ornithologist after finishing university. He spotted a Robin and Wren as the first most vocal birds of the morning, then Greenfinch, a company of Linnets and a murmuration of Starlings rising from their roost from under one of the bridges. 

While the other three was strolling up the field, heading to the sea, Colleen was doing cartwheels.  She was very supple and wanted to be a dancer so was always practising.

 Through another field they found Mr Brown's bullocks grazing,   Suddenly Hector, the bull, rose from his sitting position and headed in their direction with his big RING through his nose.  Mr Brown had warned them about him and said Hector often liked a good chase and that was certainly what was happening TODAY.  Charlie had brought a stick with them, but it was not up to stopping a bull.  However the bull was intent on charging and was joined by all the other bullocks.  The cattle were having such fun, not so the children as they sprinted to the nearest hedgerows, just managing to struggle through the brambles and over the fence, falling in a heap before the cattle reached them.  Phew!   That was close, Charlie said, time for a break and something to eat.

Daisy produced Custard CREAM biscuits for everyone but Charlie's biscuits were BROKEN when he fell over the fence but as everyone loved chocolate, nobody minded and they were scoffed down.

They decided to head for the beach and ran along the walkway.  David spotted a beautiful Black headed gull with its white eye RING  and there were Eider ducks on the bay.  He explained to Daisy that was where the DOWN came from for her Eiderdown duvet.   

Colleen found a BROKEN egg shell that David carefully put in his bag so he could ID it when he returned to his cottage to check out his bird book.   

Daisy climbed on this tree stump and entertained them by singing her favourite songs before jumping DOWN onto the soft sand.  Charlie walked along the shore line looking for different coloured shells as he knew his Mum collected them while Colleen continued her hand stands and other gymnastic manoeuvres. 

All the cousins loved coming to Northern Ireland for their summers.   They enjoyed walking up and DOWN the Drumlins of Co. DOWN.  (OWN CHOICE)

Charlie said they should make their way to Mrs Galway’s Cottage.  She always had some sweeties for them.  They arrived at NUMBER 2 Coastguard Cottages.  It was very pretty and Mrs Galway loved working in her flower garden.  

There was no bell to ring so they hammered on a large door knocker.  

No answer, so they made their way round the side and shouted over the fence in case she was working in her back garden.  No answer again but Colleen said they could climb this LATTICE fence as Mrs Galway would not mind if they had their lunch in her summerhouse that they were so FAMILIAR with.

Charlie said he hoped his Dad was not cross that he had taken all the CREAM buns that he had made for Daisy's birthday the next day.    Certainly Daisy didn't mind at all as they looked scrumptious and anyway, she said her uncle would probably rustle up more for tomorrow. 

David had also managed to bring lovely slices of cake decorated with white icing and brown LATTICE work on them.  With homemade lemonade and the sausage rolls that Colleen managed to smuggle out, they had a wonderful feast.  

Since Mrs Galway never appeared, they left promising to return to see her soon as they loved her stories of the 'olden days'.

Charlie said he thought they better head home and as they were passing through one field, they noticed it had a great MANY black covered round bales of hay in it .  So they stopped and had great fun time climbing over the 2 stack high bales and also playing hide and seek in the spaces between each of them.  

Back at the cottages when their parents had woken up, David's Dad, Jon, had gone to the next cottage to ask the QUESTION, "Do you know where the children have gone"? 

Paul showed him the note and said, I suppose, you really needn't have asked that QUESTION, as every year as soon as we get here they are off on some adventure or other.  I think they may have gone along the walkway to the beach today.  I'm certain it won't be long before they return home for their dinner because I am sure they will be starving by now. Then we will hear all about about their adventures today.

I hope you enjoyed this challenge that I set myself.

I am linking up with PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT  and  SATURDAY CRITTTERS

Thanks you for visiting and also to all those who leave comments.