Rachel’s Pudding Pantry by Caroline Roberts

Author:Caroline Roberts [Caroline Roberts]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2019-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

A PUDDING PICNIC

The sun was warm on their backs as Rachel and Maisy knelt at the strawberry patch in the farmhouse garden. They were busy picking the now ripe, juicy sweet berries. The smell and taste of them was like candyfloss on their fingers. Maisy was eating as many as went into the punnet, Rachel noticed with a smile, taking in her little girl’s red-stained lips.

As a respite from the building noise and the hot early-July weather – yes, the builders were back, just on a slightly later track, phew! – Rachel had promised Maisy a picnic after school, down by the stream that ran through their farmland. There was an amazing pool you could paddle in across into Tom’s land, and he’d said in the past that he didn’t mind them going there.

Back in the farm’s kitchen, the picnic basket was soon loaded up with ham sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs from their hens, tomatoes from Jim’s greenhouse (he’d dropped off a bag, after telling Rachel during the taxi trip home the other night that he had lots ripening up), and, of course, an assortment of cakes and puddings. Jill’s latest trials were mini meringues that she thought might go well for the launch day and lemon drizzle cupcakes. Rachel, who knew she’d need to step up to the mark to assist with the Pudding Pantry supplies, had made some chocolate-honeycomb traybakes. All would go equally well with their loaded punnets of strawberries and raspberries.

They set off in the Land Rover, bumping across the fields, to park up in the low meadow, with its comforting smell of warm hay that was drying in the sun. A verge that had been left untouched was filled with deep-blue, wild cornflowers and a splash of red poppies that swayed between the pale-gold shafts of grass in a gentle breeze.

Maisy skipped down from the vehicle with Moss leaping eagerly behind her. Jill set out a tartan rug beside the stream. Moss was soon entertaining himself sniffing around the field and then playing chase-the-ball in the water, splashing them as he bounded in and out, much to Maisy’s delight. With her swimming costume on and her school clothes discarded, she was soon in the water too. The stream was shallow at this time of year, with just a few slippery stones to beware of. Every now and then there was a flash of a silvery brown minnow in the waters. Rachel dipped her bare toes in and leaned back on the soft grass of the riverbank, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face – until Moss took to shaking off icy cold droplets right next to her, that was.

‘Aw, Mo-oss!’

Jill couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Right, picnic time,’ she announced. ‘Come on out of the water, Maisy. I’ve got a cosy towel here ready for you.’

Maisy was a little shivery as she came out the stream – the waters from the hills were cool and fresh even in summer – but she was soon wrapped up in a big fluffy beach towel.

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