Elizabeth Andrews's Blog, page 18

23rd August; the sun enters the House of Virgo

Kalender of Shepheardes 1604


'The man born under Virgo shall be a good house holder, ingenious and solicitous to his work, shamefast and of great courage: but he will be soon to anger. Scarcely shall he be a while with his first wife. He shall be in peril by water, he shall have a wound with iron, and shall live seventy years after nature.
The woman shall be shamefast, ingenious and painstaking. She ought to be wed at twelve years, but she shall not be long with her first husband. Her life shall sometimes be in peril: she shall have dolour at ten years and if she scape shall live seventy years. She shall bring forth virtuous fruit and everything shall favour her.
Man and woman both shall suffer many temptations; they shall delight to live in charity, but they shall suffer much, wheresoever it be.'

The Lavender Witch serialised: part 6

‘Fine Mr Beamish, we just thought we’d pop in and say hello.’‘Well that’s nice, I’ve been meaning to come over and see how you have settled in. Come on in and I will put the kettle on.’‘Is it alright if we bring the dog in? He’s a bit wet,’ said Kitty glancing down at Nero. His fur was soaked; the mud from the lane had splashed up around his legs and stomach and was slowly dripping off in wet muddy rivulets onto the doorstep.‘Of course, I’m used to wet and muddy dogs, he can sit in front of the Rayburn and dry off.’Gordon opened the front door and stepped into the stone flagged hallway, Kitty carefully wiped her feet on the doormat before following him inside. Mr Beamish stood in the open doorway of the kitchen, a smile of welcome on his face.‘Come on in you two, the kettle has just boiled.’Nero sat down with a sigh and stretched out on the rug in front of the glowing stove. ‘It’s lovely and warm in here Mr Beamish,’ Kitty held her cold hands over the range. ‘I would have liked one of these in our kitchen but there wasn’t enough room as we had the gas oven as well.’‘This has a back boiler so I get hot water from it as well, nice in the winter but it gets a bit warm in here in the summer,’ he said ruefully. ‘I prefer something a bit more up to date,’ said Gordon. He looked at the ageing range. ‘I remember having to clean out my parent's Aga every weekend and I swore then I would never have one of the damn things.’Mr Beamish shrugged and put the teapot on the table. ‘Well I suppose I’m used to it, there’s many a cold night that I’ve spent in front of it with a sick lamb so it has had a lot of use over the years.’They sat down at the kitchen table with their mugs of tea.‘Hope you don’t mind sitting in the kitchen but I spend most of my time in here as it’s the warmest room in the house, and to be honest,’ he smiled slightly and looked embarrassed.  ‘I find it a bit more comfortable.’‘Not at all.... We walked up to the cottage on Castle hill this morning, I didn’t realise that land belonged to you. It must have been a lovely place to live, what a view,’ said Gordon.Mr Beamish stirred his tea. ‘It’s alright in nice weather, but there’s no electricity, water or drainage. I thought about renovating it and renting it out for holiday lets but the costs of getting all the amenities up there was just too much. So in the end I just took everything out of the cottage and sold it off.’‘There’s not much of the building left now.’‘I know, it seems a shame to let the cottage fall down but getting up there on foot is difficult enough, I would have had to put a road in and that would have been really expensive.’‘We saw Mrs Leavenham up there walking her dog.’ Kitty leaned forward and looked at him keenly.‘Is she still managing to walk up there? She ought to be careful, she’s getting on a bit now and if she should fall...’‘Mrs Leavenham did say she found it a struggle to get up the hill these days,’ Kitty said stirring her tea. ‘She was telling us all about Hannah and Samuel.’‘Oh yes, I believe her grandmother knew Hannah well.’‘The strange thing is..’  started Gordon. ‘That the fireplace that I bought from the reclamation yard is Hannah’s, from the cottage.’‘Really?’ Mr Beamish looked surprised. ‘I sold all that off several years ago.’‘It’s quite a coincidence isn’t it? I checked with the chap at the yard and it is definitely the same one.’‘Well I never! So it’s come home to roost.’‘Do you know why she was known as a witch? From what Mrs Leavenham has said she was no such thing,’ asked Kitty.‘Oh that was just some rumours that started, it was a long time ago and I don’t think anybody really knows what went on then.’‘We first heard about it in the pub.’‘Really? I don’t go in there now, it’s changed hands hasn’t it.’Gordon stared thoughtfully at the old man over the table. ‘Did you know your grandfather, Robert Beamish?’‘Not really, why?’‘Mrs Leavenham was talking to us about him.’‘Oh, well I just remember a very old man, although my father always said he was a very difficult man to live with.’‘Difficult?’ inquired Gordon.‘Well that was just my father saying that, he was always a bit tight lipped about his dad. They didn’t get on. Gran said that father was more like granddad’s brother Samuel. He was a kind soul, when he married Hannah they moved up to the cottage on the hill.’‘Yes we heard about that, it was a shame that he drowned.’‘Drowned? Where did you hear that?’ Mr Beamish asked rather sharply.‘Mrs Leavenham told us, she said that he fell into the river near your lower fields.’‘Well I don’t why Sybil would have said that.... not that I know much about his death.’‘Well we found a newspaper report about it,’ said Gordon firmly.Kitty looked at Mr Beamish in concern, his face had become very still and he was staring blankly at his hands clasped around the mug of tea.‘The report said that Samuel had slipped while helping Robert with some fencing and had fallen into the river and drowned,’ continued Gordon.‘Drowned.. I hadn’t heard that before,’ he said quietly.
‘It must have been dreadful for Hannah,’ said Kitty.Mr Beamish ignored her and continued ‘Nobody ever spoke about Samuel’s death. I don’t see how he could have drowned there. Where our fields run down to the river it runs wide and shallow. I have fallen in enough times myself and the water only reached my knees.  It’s strange the report said he drowned, my father never mentioned anything about it.’‘What was he like?’ asked Gordon.‘Who?’‘Robert Beamish.’‘Oh... Like I said he and father didn’t get on, he liked his gardening and books and grandfather despised anything like that. I don’t think anybody was sorry when he died. The first thing that father did after the funeral was drag out all of grandfather’s things into the orchard and he burned the lot. I remember watching him, I still remember it as though it was yesterday the look on his face especially when he burned grandfather’s walking stick.’His face became vacant as he stared back in time. ‘I do know he had an awful temper,’ Mr Beamish continued quietly. ‘He beat one of the farm dogs to death. Dad could do anything with those dogs but it was different with granddad.  All the dogs would slink off and hide when they heard him walking into the yard. The dog wouldn’t come when it was called so he caught it and beat it with that stick,’ he paused and went on sadly, ‘...broke the poor thing’s back. He wouldn’t stop even when father went for him. He said it was as though the old man had the devil in him.’Gordon and Kitty sat at the table, the tea forgotten and cold.‘How did he get on with Hannah?’ asked Kitty quietly staring across the table at him, feeling guilty that they had stirred so many painful memories up for the old man.‘I have no idea; it was a long time ago.’‘It’s just that we read an article on Hannah and one interesting part was that a local farmer paid a white witch to get rid of her because he thought she was causing all his bad luck. Do you know anything about that?’ asked Gordon.‘We went to ask Mrs Leavenham but the shop was closed,’ interrupted Kitty.The old man looked at her and blinked, he seemed very confused. ‘Well, it’s half day closing, Sybil will be at home,’ he said slowly. ‘Why are you so interested in Hannah and Samuel?’Kitty started to answer but Gordon put a hand on her arm. ‘Well we have Hannah’s fireplace and we have become interested in the history of it and Mrs Leavenham seems to know so much about the families of the village.’Mr Beamish smiled slightly.‘Sybil is related to most of the people here. She was the youngest of ten children; her mother came from a large family as well. They all lived in the village at one time or another so I suppose she would know all about the families here.’‘Do you have children Mr Beamish?’ asked Kitty.He brightened. ‘Oh yes I have two boys, well, not boys now of course. Edwin lives in New Zealand, he had a sheep farm out there; his son has taken that on now he’s retired. My eldest son Derek lives in Poole, he was an accountant.’‘So he won’t be taking on the farm?’‘No, he has no interest in farming or his children and I can’t imagine Sharon, his wife, moving to the country.’‘So how do you manage on your own?’ Kitty glanced around the untidy kitchen.‘I don’t farm now; I rent out the fields to Mr Squires. He has the farm just past the village.’‘Do you miss it?’‘Not the work,’ he laughed. ‘I don’t miss that at all but I do miss having the animals about. Sybil’s granddaughter stables her horse here so I do have Jester to talk to.’‘We saw her coming out of the yard, it’s a lovely horse,’ Kitty carried on. ‘I used to ride years ago before the children were born.’‘Jester is getting on a bit now; I think Debbie said he was about fourteen. He’s the only animal left on the farm now.’‘Isn’t that grey cat yours then?’William looked surprised. ‘It turned up at the weekend so I assumed it was yours.’‘Maybe it’s a stray or from the village then, it’s sneaked into the house several times already,’ said Kitty.‘Really? It didn’t seem too friendly. It hissed and spat when it saw me yesterday.’‘Oh dear,’ laughed Kitty. ‘Then it definitely isn’t mine, I disown it.’‘Where does Mrs Leavenham live?’ interrupted Gordon, determined not to be sidetracked by the talk of horses and cats.‘Priddy Cottage, it’s the little cottage near the church.’‘Is she in the phone book?’Mr Beamish put his hands on the table and pushed himself up. ‘I’ll get her phone number for you.’ He rummaged about in the piles of paper and books on the dresser and pulled out a small address book. ‘Ah, here it is.’ he copied it out onto a piece of torn off newspaper and handed it to Gordon.‘Thanks Mr Beamish, I’ll call her later. I’m sure she won’t mind.’‘I doubt it, she loves talking about the village and what goes on here. Well she just loves talking; it’s harder trying to get her to stop.’Gordon stood up and took his empty cup over to the sink. There was a pile of dirty crockery in the sink.‘Oh leave that,’ Mr Beamish waved his hand in the general direction of the sink. ‘I will get round to it later.’‘Thanks for the tea,’ Kitty stood up and tucked the chair under the table. ‘You must come over for coffee,’ she reminded him.‘I will indeed, I would have been over before but I have had a bit of a cold and haven’t been out much.’‘I hope you’re feeling better?’‘I’m fine now, Sybil brought up a bottle of that foul mixture she sells, the miracle cure.’‘I have had some of that, it tasted disgusting.’‘She forces me to take it and then tells me I’m feeling better whether I do or not!’Mr Beamish stood in the doorway and looked out into the yard. ‘It’s a good job you haven’t got far to go.’The rain was coming down heavily and it had become quite murky outside.‘Debbie won’t be out long in this,’ he said looking out into the falling rain.‘Now you must come over and see the house sometime,’ said Kitty firmly.‘I certainly will,’ he replied, patting Kitty on the arm. She smiled at him, she felt quite a fool for thinking him capable of any ill feeling towards them.A flicker caught her eye. ‘Oh there’s the bat,’ she exclaimed.‘They’re in the feed store,’ gesturing to the stone building on the right, a flight of stone stairs led up to a plank door. ‘There is quite a colony in there; nobody goes in there now so they don’t get disturbed.’‘Doesn’t Debbie keep the horse feed in there?’‘It’s in the stable next to Jester. I haven’t been in there for years.’‘It’s a shame to see it so quiet here.’‘This isn’t how a farm should be,’ he said sadly looking around the empty yard. ‘I had hoped that one of the boys would take it on but they weren’t interested. This farm has been in our family for five generations, still... what they do with it after I’m gone is up to them.’‘Well they won’t have to worry about that for a while Mr Beamish,’ she said smiling up at him.He looked at her and grinned. ‘I am ninety four; I’m not going to go on forever although I have told Sybil that I want my telegram from the Queen.’‘You don’t look ninety four,’ said Kitty looking surprised.‘Well I don’t feel it but I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t get one,’ He looked over at Gordon who was walking out the gate with the dog in tow. ‘You had better hurry; your husband is leaving without you.’Kitty sighed and watched as Gordon disappeared through the gate into the lane. ‘I suppose I had better go and catch him up.’Mr Beamish turned back to the front door. ‘I hope this rain soon eases up, it makes my bones ache.’‘Perhaps Sybil has a cure,’ Kitty joked.‘Oh no, don’t mention it to her, I dread to think what she would find for that.’He stood in the doorway and watched as Kitty walked across the yard, as she got to the gate she turned, meaning to wave but a flicker of movement in an upstairs window caught her eye. She paused, staring up at the window‘I hope you’re not looking at the peeling paint,’ he smiled ruefully at her. ‘It’s a lovely house isn’t it? It’s a grade II listed building but it’s sadly needs a bit of TLC now,’ he called across.‘No of course not William, it’s just that..,’ she answered still staring at the dark second floor window, then jumped slightly on hearing footsteps behind her. A hand tugged at her arm.  ‘Come on Kitty, stop chatting. I’m getting wet.’They waved to Mr Beamish and watched as he went inside and shut the door. Without the light flooding from the open door the yard seemed very dark and quiet. Gordon slipped his arm through Kitty’s. ‘Come on, let’s get going.’ They walked quickly back along the lane to their front drive, as they rounded the corner they could see a small blue car in the drive.‘Who’s that?’‘It’s Eve’s car,’ as he spoke, their daughter opened the car door and got out.‘There you are. I’ve been so worried; I’ve been ringing since this morning, where have you been?’ she called.‘Why, what’s wrong?’ Kitty hurried forward; she could see a small hand waving from the child seat in the back. ‘Is everybody okay?’‘We’re fine; it’s you two I have been worried about.’Gordon gave his daughter a hug. ‘We’re fine,’ he reassured her.‘I popped into your office this morning and you weren’t there. Your secretary said you called in early and told her you weren’t going to come in. I’ve been ringing all morning!’‘There’s nothing wrong, I decided to stay home today. We had a few things to sort out that’s all.’Kitty looked at him worried that he was going to tell Eve. He caught the look and shook his head.‘But you never have time off,’ Eve persisted.‘Well, I am today,’ he said firmly. ‘Come on let’s get out of the rain,’ he pushed them towards the house and then opened the back door of the car. ‘I’ll get Emily, you two go on in.’Gordon unbuckled the seat and lifted out the little girl. ‘Hello my little poppet, have you come to see gramps then?’ ‘Dad, can you bring in the pink bag as well?’ called Eve from the front door.‘Yep,’ he slung the strap over his shoulder, pulled Emily’s hood up and hurried into the house. Kitty closed the door after him and locked it.‘Not a word mind!’ he warned her quietly.‘I wasn’t going to say anything.’Eve was taking off her coat in the kitchen and didn’t hear them whispering in the hall.‘Your neighbour’s not very friendly is he?’ she called to them.‘What?’ ‘The old guy, you know. He was glaring at us from the lane. I was going to talk to him but he looked so fierce that I didn’t bother.’‘When was this?’ asked Gordon.‘Just before you came back. I hope you’re not going to have problems with him.’‘That wasn’t Mr Beamish; we were just talking to him in the farmhouse.’‘Well it looked like him. I have met him before, remember?’ Eve said indignantly.Emily was wriggling in Gordon’s arms, she had spotted Nero. ‘Go on then, down you go’She pottered over to the dog. ‘Nero’s wet dog.’‘Yes he is a wet doggie,’ agreed Kitty. ‘Let’s go and dry him off,’ she took Emily’s hand and led her into the kitchen. ‘Come on Nero.’Gordon followed and put the bag down on the table. Eve unzipped it and pulled out a handful of letters. ‘Mrs Walker gave them to me this morning, that’s why I went into your office.’‘Why didn’t she just redirect them?’ he said picking them up.‘Well she was going to but then she saw me so I said I would drop them off.’Gordon leafed through them. ‘It’s nothing important, just junk mail.’‘Oh well, it gave me an excuse to come round.’‘You don’t need an excuse Eve.’‘I was going to come over yesterday but it was the mother- in- law’s birthday so we went out for a meal,’ she looked around the kitchen. ‘This looks really nice. It’s quite different from the last time I was here.’‘Once the windows were in, the builder really cracked on with it all and he finished on schedule.’‘Well that’s a first isn’t it!’ Eve looked at her mother kneeling in front of Emily taking off the little girl’s coat. ‘Are you happy with it mum?’Kitty looked up and hesitated. ‘Yes of course’Gordon looked at Kitty and smiled. ‘Mum hasn’t got used to it being so quiet out here yet.’Kitty pulled herself up. ‘I’ll get used to it.’‘Have you done anything to the garden yet?’ Eve leaned on the edge of the sink and stared out of the kitchen window. ‘What’s that?’‘Just some rubbish I was going to burn.’‘Why don’t you take it to the dump?’‘Are you staying long?’ interrupted Gordon.She laughed. ‘I’ve only just got here and you are trying to get rid of me already.’‘Dad didn’t mean that,’ Kitty glanced warningly at him. ‘It’s just that it’s a horrible night for driving.’‘Oh I’ll be fine, stop fussing mum.’‘Well okay then, I’ll put the kettle on,’ Kitty stared out of the window as she was filling the kettle and could just see the figure of Mr Beamish walking out of the farmyard. ‘I wonder what he’s doing out in this weather?’ she said in surprise. ‘That’s not going to do his aches and pains any good.’Gordon stood up from the table and looked over her shoulder. ‘Shut the blind as it such a horrible night Kitty. Why don’t we take the tea into the front room and I’ll light the fire,’ He picked up Emily and carried her out into the hall. ‘Make sure the back door is locked,’ he called back.‘I’ll do it. Yep it’s locked, bolted and drawbridge up,’ Eve looked across the kitchen at her mother who was fussing nervously with the cups. ‘I didn’t think there was any crime in the country.’‘It doesn’t shut properly so we have to lock it,’ Kitty looked away from her daughter as she answered and concentrated on making the tea.Eve stared at her mother ‘Are you sure you two are alright?’‘Of course, we’re fine,’ Kitty smiled reassuringly at her daughter. ‘Bring the biscuit tin, it’s in that cupboard,’ she nodded to the cupboard near the door. ‘Let’s see if dad has got the fire going yet.’Emily was standing in front of the fireplace watching the first few flames licking around the kindling. She turned to her mother and pointed at the flames.‘Look what gramp’s done.’Eve pulled her back. ‘Not too close Emily.’‘Oh she’s fine, stop fussing,’ said Gordon. ‘I’m here to watch her.’ ‘I think she ought to come out of the way Gordon,  that kindling can spit.’‘Okay, okay,’ he stood up and picked up Emily and put her into his chair. ‘There now you can sit in gramp’s chair and watch the fire or those two won’t give me any peace.’Eve passed him a cup of tea before flopping onto the sofa. ‘Poor old granddad,’ she yawned and curled her legs up on the cushions.‘Are you going to stay to tea?’‘No, I had better get back soon or Rob will wonder where I am,’ Eve stared at the fire watching the flames licking round the logs. ‘I love the fireplace.’‘Haven’t you seen it before?’‘No, dad told me about it but it hadn’t been delivered the last time I was here.’‘Mum was worried it was too big for the room,’ he said dunking a biscuit in his tea.‘No, it’s fine. Where did it come from?’‘Well...’‘Near Ilminster,’ interrupted Gordon. ‘It’s been treated for worm and I think it looks great,’ he added firmly.‘Well I do as well,’ Kitty stared at him. ‘It’s just that I was worried it was too big but I’ve got used to the size now.’Over the crackling of the logs Kitty could hear footsteps approaching up the gravel drive. She stiffened and stared warily at the window. Gordon followed her gaze; he too had heard the footsteps.‘I’ll just see who that is,’ he said keeping calm. He pulled back the curtains and stared out into the darkness. There was a muffled crunch and a car alarm started its insistent beeping.‘My car!’ Eve leapt to her feet and ran towards the front door.‘Wait a minute,’ Gordon darted forward and caught her by the arm. ‘Stay here and I will go and look. You need to watch Emily with the fire.’‘Well, mum can do that,’ she said impatiently and pulled open the door.Kitty picked up Emily from the chair and held her close.‘Wassat?’‘Nothing Emily,’ she brushed off the biscuit crumbs from her sticky little face and smoothed back the wispy hair. ‘Gramps will see to it.’‘Mummas gone,’ she said pointing to the door.‘No she’s just outside with gramps, look,’ Kitty carried her over to the window and pulled back the curtains, she pointed to the two figures outside. ‘There’s mummy.’ They were bent over examining the side of Eve’s car. She let the curtains drop back and walked back to the chair near the fireplace.A few minutes later the front door slammed open and Eve burst in, flushed with annoyance.‘Oh dear, what’s happened?’ Kitty asked her daughter.‘Something’s hit my car’ Eve said indignantly.  ‘The door looks as though it’s been kicked!’‘What?’‘There’s nobody out there but we did hear footsteps on the gravel.’‘Yes, yes I did as well,’ she said faintly. ‘Where’s dad?’‘He’s gone to look in the lane and see if he can see anybody. Who would do that!’ she exploded. ‘Are you having problems with your neighbour?’ she rounded on her mother. ‘Is that what’s going on?’‘No not really, it’s a bit more complicated than that,’ said Kitty hesitantly. She pulled her daughter further into the hall and shut the door. ‘Dad’s not going to be happy I told you, but the house is haunted.’Eve stared at her mother.‘Oh for God’s sake mum, somebody has just put their size tens into my car door and you’re babbling about ghosts!’‘I’m not babbling Eve,’ she said crossly. ‘Strange things have been happening and even dad has seen her.’‘Dad has seen what?’ he asked opening the front door and coming in.‘Your ghost,’ Eve snapped.‘Ah.. I didn’t want mum to tell you,’ he sounded annoyed.‘You mean she’s serious?’‘Yep, it seems we have acquired a ghost but I’m going to solve the whys and the wherefores so there is no reason to worry.’‘And you are telling me that a ghost has just damaged my car?’‘I’m not sure that a ghost can do that but I am not going to discount anything just yet.’She stared from one to another.‘How am I going to claim that on my Insurance, “I was hit by a runaway ghost”?’‘This is no joking matter Eve; mum has been getting really upset over it.’He took Emily from Kitty’s arms.‘This is a new house... so where did it come from?’ asked Eve incredulously.‘Let’s go and sit down and I’ll try to explain. Well, I will tell you what we have found out so far,’ he led the way back into the front room. ‘Our fireplace used to belong to a woman who lived on Castle Hill. She was rumoured to be a witch. Now hang on..’ he held up a hand as Eve tried to interrupt. ‘Our neighbours disagree with that but she did die in a very strange way and I think she was murdered. I also think it was her ghost that I saw inside the house last night.’Eve stared at her father open mouthed. ‘Are you serious? You actually saw a ghost? You? Mister Cynical?’‘Yes.’‘What... oh this just gets better. Why would she damage my car?’‘I don’t know,’ he shrugged and stared at his daughter. ‘But I think you should go before anything else happens.’‘But you can’t stay here, if you seriously think that.’Gordon hesitated. ‘And I would like you to take mum with you,’ he glanced across at his wife.‘I’m not going if you’re not,’ Kitty stood up from the sofa and glared at him. ‘It’s me that she spoke to remember.’‘I know,’ he said trying to be patient. ‘That’s why I think you should go with Eve. Spend the night there and I will pick you up in the morning.’‘No, if you are staying then so am I.’‘I think you have both gone mad, ghosts can’t kick holes in cars.’‘Since when have you become an expert?’ he asked sarcastically. ’I don’t know what she’s capable of and I’d rather not find out but I think we haven’t seen the last of her yet.’‘Mrs Leavenham knows a lot about Hannah and we want to see her and see if she can help in any way.’‘Who is Hannah? And who is Mrs Leavenham?’Kitty looked at her blankly. ‘Oh, of course sorry dear, let’s start from the beginning. Hannah who was supposed to be a witch but wasn’t of course,  lived at Castle Hill with her husband Samuel who was our Mr Beamish ’s grandfather’s brother and......’Eve put her head in her hands and groaned. ‘Oh God no, Dad, you explain please!’‘Gordon stop laughing!’‘It’s simple, Hannah was accused of being a witch by a local farmer, he paid a white witch to get rid of her and she died in mysterious circumstances. Okay, with me so far?’‘Who was the farmer?’‘We don’t know and that is why we want to see Mrs Leavenham who knows all there is to know about the village, plus her grandmother was friends with Hannah.’‘Show Eve what you found on the computer about Hannah,’ suggested Kitty.Gordon put Emily back into his chair and strode off into the study to find his laptop.‘Right, shove up you two so I can sit in the middle,’ he opened the laptop and plugged in the memory stick. ‘Now here we are, this is what I found earlier, read it’Eve read it and then read it again, a puzzled expression on her face.‘This doesn’t make any sense dad.’‘No it doesn’t, mum has an idea that Mrs Leavenham’s grandmother was the little girl. So we think she may be able to help.’‘Why don’t you try tracing Hannah through the census records?’Gordon clapped a hand to his head. ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that!’ and pulled the laptop towards him.‘The 1841 Census is the earliest so start with that one,’ Eve suggested peering over his arm at the screen.Kitty pulled Emily on to her lap and put her arms around the little girl, she was starting to grizzle and rub her eyes. ‘Emily’s getting tired Eve.’‘Just give her a cuddle mum, I’m sure she’ll be fine,’ said Eve not looking up from the computer. She pointed at the screen.  ‘Dad, just put in 1841 census.’‘Can you do that? Just look up records of people?’‘You can find out anything on the internet these days mum, you should really get out more you know,’ Eve said half sarcastically.‘Now, now, mum doesn’t do technology,’ said Gordon calmly. ‘She has enough problems working the dishwasher.’Kitty hugged her granddaughter and whispered in her ear, ‘Aren’t they a pair of meanies Emily?’They stared intently at the screen while Gordon clicked on different sites to find the right census records.‘What’s that one?’‘Family search, let’s try on this site. Right, 1841 Census this is it,’ He tapped in Hannah Beamish.  ‘Date of birth?’ he queried.‘Just put her name in and see what comes up.’‘It needs place of birth as well so if I just put in Medbury Devon and we’ll start from there.’‘But we don’t know she was born here dad.’‘Well we’ll assume it for now.’‘Hey, look at all the Beamishes in Devon, are there any in Medbury?’‘Here’s one, ah... this must be Robert Beamish. Let’s look at his record,’ Gordon clicked onto Robert‘s name and the next page opened up.‘Damn! We have to pay to see any more, I’ll need my card number. Kitty can you fetch my wallet? I think it’s in my jacket.’Kitty slid Emily off her lap onto the sofa and got up. ‘I won’t be a minute.’She found his jacket hanging over the banister in the hall and paused listening to the wind howling around the house and buffeting against the windows and door. Outside there was a crash as the wheelie bin was blown over and Kitty could hear the scraping noise as it was driven across the drive.‘What was that Kitty?’‘It was the bin going over in the wind.’The wind whined around the eaves of the house shrieking louder and louder as she listened.‘Kitty! Did you find it?’‘I’m just coming,’ she answered hurrying back into the room. ‘I was listening to the wind.’Eve looked up. ‘I don’t think I will be driving home in this for a while, I’ll ring Rob after we have done this and warn him I’m going to be late.’Gordon didn’t answer; he was concentrating on entering all his bank details onto the site.‘This is going to cost me an arm and a leg,’ he grumbled.‘If we can find out some more information about Hannah it will be worth it dad.’Kitty knelt in front of the fire and gave the crumbling logs a poke.‘Put some more wood on Kitty.’‘I was just going to dear.’ she replied patiently.She placed a log on the dying embers, the flames quickly licking up around the dry wood. The wind moaned down the chimney driving the smoke back into the room. Kitty coughed and waved a hand in front of her face. ‘Look at all this smoke, it’s being blown back down the chimney.’ She turned, neither of them were listening to her, they were intent on the laptop.‘Look Kitty, this is the census record of Robert Beamish, he was 22 years old, unmarried and his father Joseph was the head of the household, living at Castle Hill Farm Medbury,’ Gordon scanned the rest of the household. ‘ Able Facey 27 born Seaton, unmarried Agricultural Labourer; Rosie Guppy 38, born Medbury unmarried, Dairymaid; Fred Dawes 18, born Medbury, Agricultural Labourer.’‘Are there any other Beamishs in the village?’ asked Eve.He put his finger on the screen and carefully went down the list. ‘Nope, no Hannah Beamish.’Kitty looked at them from her position in front of the fire place. ‘Well she won’t be in the census forms.’‘What?’ Gordon peered at her over his glasses.‘The census used to be taken in the summer and Hannah died in the spring, you don’t have to be a computer genius to know that.’‘Oh now you tell us, thanks mum!’‘Well you two are supposed to be the computer whiz kids.’ She put another log on the fire and grinned to herself. ‘Try looking for her death,’ she suggested.Gordon clicked onto a different list and tried the name Beamish.  ‘Here’s one, Samuel Beamish, 25th April 1840.’‘We’ve seen that already,’ said Kitty.‘No we haven’t, this Samuel was only six weeks old when he died, must be a different family.’Gordon sat back and rubbed his hands over his face. ‘God, this is so frustrating!’‘So you can’t find anything for Hannah? Birth or death?’‘Nope, not a thing.’‘How strange,’ mused Kitty.They fell silent while outside the wind screamed around the house.Another puff of smoke blew into the room.‘Smokey room Nana,’ Emily was getting tired and she rubbed her eyes which were stinging from the smoke.‘Shall I put Emily to bed in the spare room?’‘I ought to be going,’ Eve said uncertainly, staring at the window but the curtains were drawn against the storm outside. ‘But it sounds really bad.’‘Perhaps you had better stay,’ said Gordon. ‘I don’t like the idea of you driving home in this.’‘Yes,’ agreed Kitty. ‘Ring Rob and tell him you’re going to stay at least until the storm blows over.’They sat listening to the howling wind which seemed to be mounting in intensity every minute, in the hall the letterbox started to rattle.‘Wassat noise,’ Emily whimpered.‘It’s just the wind; it’s making the letterbox rattle, that’s all. It’s nothing to be worried about Emily.’Kitty tried to soothe her but she slid off her lap, ran over to her mother and scrambled up on to her knee.‘Let’s see what else we can find,’ said Gordon, tapping the keys.Nero appeared in the doorway with his ears down and looking very mournful.‘Come on Nero,’ Kitty called to him. He pattered over the carpet and came to sit by her legs, and laid his head in her lap. ‘He doesn’t like storms,’ she stroked him soothingly on the head. ‘Poor old dog.’‘Poor doggie,’ Emily forgetting the storm for a minute scrambled down and came over to give him a pat on the head.‘Gently Emily,’ warned Eve. The little girl’s pats could be a bit hard and Nero was already looking sorry he had come in to join them.‘What else have you found Gordon?’‘Nothing for Hannah and nothing else for Samuel. Robert Beamish is on the 1851 census as head of the household so I suppose his father must have died.’‘Perhaps he’s running the farm.’‘Let’s see now, yep he’s running the farm, no father on the census. Oh and look at this he’s married, to a Rachel born 1814 Exeter.’‘What?’ The noise of the wind howling around the house had grown so loud that Kitty and Eve were having difficulty in hearing him.‘Rachel,’ he said loudly. ‘Born 1814 Exeter, and they had two sons. Edward F. born 1841 Medbury and William, born 1844 Medbury.’‘Hang on a minute, 1841? He wasn’t married in the 1841 census. He was single,’ said Eve suddenly.Gordon looked at her surprised. ‘That’s right, he wasn’t, well, well, looks like they had the honeymoon before the wedding.’Eve grinned. ‘I didn’t think that sort of thing went on then.’‘Hah! Don’t you believe it, things haven’t changed that much,’ he snorted.Kitty laughed, she was just going to speak when Nero started growling.‘Nero stop that,’ for a minute she thought that the dog had lost patience with Emily’s attentions and was growling at the little girl. But he was staring at the door, his hackles rose and a low ominous growl rumbled around his stomach.‘Nero shush,’ commanded Gordon.‘Why’s Nero growling nana?’‘He’s upset, it’s the storm,’ Kitty tried to comfort him but he stood up suddenly pushing Emily out of the way and padded towards the door with his tail and ears down.A terrific gust of wind howled around the house, the letterbox rattled frantically and in the kitchen the back door suddenly crashed open, blowing into the room all the debris from the garden including Kitty’s carefully collected pile of leaves and cardboard.Nero started barking frantically lunging towards the hall and then retreating back to the safety of the front room.Amidst the wind howling, Emily shrieking and Gordon shouting at the dog to be quiet Kitty could just make out a human voice bellowing in rage.‘Can you hear that?’She jumped as Eve grabbed her arm. ‘Who is that shouting?’ ‘I don’t know. Gordon?’ He had run into the kitchen to shut the door. ‘I thought I told you to lock it Kitty!’ he shouted.‘I locked it dad! Well mum said it didn’t shut properly,’ Eve said indignantly and followed him into the kitchen, with Kitty hurrying after her.Gordon had managed to push the door shut against the howling wind and push the bolt across, then dragged the table over and jammed it against the door as the lock was rattling ominously with the force of the wind.  Gordon looked at the mess of leaves and rubbish on the floor.‘Where’s the broom?’ he yelled to his wife, trying to make himself heard against the shrieking outside.The wind buffeted the door making the table slide across the tiled floor.‘Dammit, we need something heavy on the table. Kitty... Kitty!’ They stared wildly around the kitchen looking for something to jam against the shaking door.‘What about jamming a chair under the handle?’ suggested Kitty pulling forward one of the pine kitchen chairs. Gordon shook his head. ‘It will just slide across the floor.’ He leant his weight against the table to keep it from sliding and looked towards the hall, the letterbox on the front door was flapping wildly and the wind shrieked louder and louder, whining and howling around the house, the rain lashing at the windows and doors.‘Check the front door, one of you,’ he said quickly.Eve ran to the door and tried the lock. ‘It’s okay, it is locked,’ she turned as she spoke and with one howling blast the door burst open throwing her across the hall floor.‘Eve!’ Kitty shrieked, and struggled along the hall to reach her, forcing herself against the wind but it was blowing so hard that she could hardly stand.‘Eve, are you okay?’‘Yeah, I think so,’ she felt the back of her head and then looked at the smear of blood on her hand. ‘Oh my head’s bleeding.’ Gordon struggled through from the kitchen holding onto the banisters. ‘Stay there you two; I’ll see if I can get to the door.’He was leaning into the wind almost bent double against the force of the blast, which carried with it small stinging pieces of gravel from the drive. ‘Mind your eyes.’ Kitty had one arm linked around the newel post and was being pressed back against the stairs. The force of the wind pushing against her chest made it difficult to breathe and she found herself gasping in the dust laden wind.Gordon had reached the door and was bracing himself against it trying to close it against the force of the wind shrieking into the hall.Eve was crouched on the floor at his feet trying to protect her face against the small pieces of flying gravel. Kitty could hear her muffled crying. ‘Come on grab it and let’s get it shut,’ he shouted.Kitty reached across to the door.‘Alright, one, two, three,’ and with that they both heaved and slammed the door shut. Gordon shot the bolt across. ‘God, I hope this holds.’ The door vibrated under the force of the wind hitting it, a hail of gravel was being driven against the hall window and there was an ominous crack as a large piece smashed into the glass.‘Let’s get the chest from your study and put it across the door,’ Kitty suggested, she straightened wearily and wiped her face, feeling a slight stickiness on her skin she glanced down at the little smears of blood on her shaking hand. She stared blindly at it for a second before wiping her hand down her leg and turned to Eve who was struggling to stand. She was sobbing and holding her head.‘Eve, are you okay?’ Kitty knelt over her putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. ‘Get up off the floor, come on,’ and helped Eve to her feet.Gordon leant back against the door with his eyes closed, gasping for breath. ‘Kitty, let’s get that chest in case the door blows open again.’She looked up cocking her head to one side and listening.‘I don’t think we need to, listen!’ The wind had suddenly dropped.‘It’s stopped! Just like that. Can you believe it,’ Gordon said amazed. He turned to the two women. ‘Are you alright?’Eve started sobbing and reached for her father. ‘It’s okay, it’s stopped now,’ he reassured her putting an arm around her.‘My head’s bleeding dad.’‘I’ll get a towel,’ Kitty headed to the kitchen, pulled a clean hand towel from the laundry basket and hurried back to hall. ‘Here use this.’ She examined the cut on the back of Eve’s head. It was only small but there was large egg shaped swelling under her hair. ‘It’s not too bad, it’s nearly stopped bleeding now,’ she reassured her and pressed the towel to it.  ‘Hold this Eve and press it firmly onto the cut.’Eve took a few shaky steps forward, wiping her eyes with one hand while holding the towel to her head and glanced into the front room.‘Where’s Emily?’ she suddenly said looking wildly around the empty room.Kitty froze, realising that she had given no thought to her granddaughter whom they had left alone while they had struggled with the doors.  ‘Oh my God.’Kitty hurried to the door and stared into the room. ‘Gordon she’s not here.’‘I’ll check upstairs.’‘You don’t think she went outside?’ said Eve fighting to control the trembling in her voice.Kitty placed a comforting hand on her arm and squeezed it. ‘She couldn’t have, we would have seen her,’ she said firmly. ‘Now calm down Eve she is in the house somewhere.’They could hear Gordon upstairs running from room to room, opening and slamming doors.‘Emily, Emily where are you? His voice sounded increasingly strained with every second that his granddaughter was missing.‘Eve come and sit down and then I’ll go and help dad look,’ Kitty put an arm around her daughter and led her over to the sofa. ‘Sit down here, we’ll find her don’t worry.’Nero was stretched out in front of the fire; he raised his head and watched them his tail thumping gently on the rug. Kitty’s next few words became strangled in her throat as she gazed at the dog’s fur; thin red streaks were smeared across his muzzle and down the sides of his face.‘What is that on the dog?’ her voice trembled as she peered over the edge of the sofa, for one wild second wondering what she might see.Emily was sitting cross legged, hidden from view at the end of the sofa, the contents of Eve’s handbag scattered around her. ‘Emily! There you are,’ she said with relief. ‘What are you doing with mummy’s lipstick?’She turned and grinned at her grandmother, her gleeful little face was smeared in bright red lipstick and big globs of it covered her hands and clothes. The last little bit was being used to draw stick figures on the carpet.Eve leapt up from the sofa where she had collapsed a few seconds earlier, and pushed her mother to one side. ‘Emily, thank goodness I was so worried,’ Eve knelt down next to her and wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her tightly.‘I’ll tell dad that she’s here,’ Kitty said in relief and trotted out into the hall. ‘Gordon’ she called up to him. ’It’s alright; she was in the sitting room behind the sofa.’‘Oh for the love of God woman,’ he pounded down the stairs. ‘I was worried sick!’‘We all were Gordon, so calm down.’He followed her back into the room. ‘Is she alright?’ he moved forward anxiously looking at Emily and Eve sat in front of the fireplace.‘Emily has found Mummy’s make up so she’s having a great time,’ Kitty smiled slightly and gestured at Emily’s lipstick smeared face.The little girl twisted round to look at him and grinned. ‘Look gramps I’m drawing.’He sat down on the end of the sofa and reached over to ruffle her hair.‘Well at least she’s okay.’ ‘She’s here,’ Kitty said suddenly.‘Who?’‘Hannah, I can smell lavender.’Eve sniffed. ‘So can I.’Emily smiled and pointed to the stick drawings on the floor. ‘Look, it’s the lady.’‘What lady, sweetie?’‘She’s been talking to me, she likes flowers.’ Emily opened one of her sticky little hands. ‘Look’ and although crushed and bent and covered with lipstick Gordon could still make out the remains of a few sprigs of lavender. He paused for a few minutes, unable to believe his eyes. He drew a deep rasping breath and stood up quickly.‘That’s it, we’re going. We’ll spend the night at Eve’s.’He picked up Emily and held her firmly to his chest, gesturing for Eve to get to her feet.‘Grab your things Eve, we’ll use your car.’Gordon ushered them out into the hall, casting one worried look back into the room.‘Kitty! Where are you going?’‘I was just going to get a few things.’He pulled her off the bottom stair. ‘No! We’re leaving now,’ his usually calm voice sounded strained and his hand grasping Kitty’s arm was trembling slightly.‘Come on mum I want to go,’ Eve tugged at her arm. ‘Let’s just get out of here.’‘Okay, okay, but the dog has to come.’‘Just stop talking and get in the damn car.’ Gordon slammed the front door behind them.‘Oh, what about the lights?’ Kitty looked at her husband enquiringly. ‘Gordon?’Nobody answered, Eve jumped into the back seat with Emily held tightly on her lap and then pulled Nero onto the seat next to her.Gordon squeezed behind the steering wheel, fiddling with the seat to get more leg room.‘Are we all in? Right lock the doors and let’s get the hell out of here.’ He started the car and crunched the gear stick into first.  ‘Sorry Eve I’m used to an automatic,’ Gordon joked trying to sound normal. ‘Okay we’re off.’Gordon drove slowly down the drive avoiding the overturned bin.‘Thank goodness it was collected today otherwise the rubbish would be everywhere.’‘Mum!’‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking what I was saying.’Gordon flicked the headlights onto full beam and drove through the gateway, just for an instant the lights picked out a figure stood to one side.‘Gordon, it’s Mr Beamish, don’t you think we should tell him why we’re going?’He slowed the car almost to a halt and glanced in the rear view mirror. Without a word he put his foot on the accelerator and sped along the road, past the farm and down into the village.‘Slow down,’ Kitty was clinging to the door. ‘Mr Beamish will think we’ve gone mad.’‘That wasn’t William,’ he ground out.‘Of course it was, I saw him,’ Kitty turned and stared at him. ‘Calm down Gordon, do you want me to drive?’ She looked over at him in concern, his hands were shaking on the wheel and his face was twisted in a strange expression.‘Gordon?’‘It wasn’t William.’‘Are you sure?’‘Yes! Hey look at this!’ he slowed down as they drove through the middle of the village.‘Look at what?’‘The road, its bone dry, they haven’t had any rain here at all.’Kitty stared out of the window and then peered through the windscreen up at the night sky.‘It’s a clear night, no rain clouds at all.’ Eve stirred restlessly on the back seat and sat forward to nudge her father’s arm.‘Dad, can we go now? I want to go home.’‘Okay Eve don’t worry, we’re just going.’ He drove slowly past the parked cars in the street and sped forward as soon as they had cleared the last few houses in the village and on up the hill to the road leading towards Axminster.They pulled into the drive of Eve’s small semi and Gordon switched off the engine. The hall light clicked on flooding the driveway with light and Rob opened the front door.‘There you are,’ he sounded annoyed. ‘I was getting worried,’ his voice changed when he saw them all in the car. ‘What’s wrong?’Eve scrambled out of the back holding the sleeping Emily tightly.‘ What’s that on Emily?’ he said leaping down the front door step towards his wife‘It’s alright, it’s just lipstick,’ Kitty quickly reassured him. Rob looked from his mother- in- law to his wife. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked Eve looking in concern at her pale face and the smear of blood on her face.‘No!’ she wailed. ‘It was awful. I hurt my head and I thought I had lost Emily,’ the rest of her explanation was lost in sobs. Rob put his arms around her and his daughter and led her to the door. ‘Come on inside,’ he glanced across at his in laws. ‘Thanks for bringing them home.’‘I’m afraid we’re going to be staying the night Rob,’ said Kitty.‘What ? Well of course,’ Rob looked at her surprised but went on ‘Come on in then, I don’t know where you’re going to sleep though.’‘A chair by the fire will do fine so don’t worry.’She turned to Gordon who was leaning against the side of the car. ‘Are you okay?’‘Hmm, yeah I’m fine,’ He pushed himself upright. ‘Let’s get in, I need a drink,’ he put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. ‘Sorry I didn’t believe you Kitty.’‘That’s okay,’ she rested her head on his shoulder for a minute before taking his arm and pulling him towards the house. ‘Come on let’s go and see if Rob has any whiskey, I think we could all do with one.’

Hordes of Faeries arrive in the New Forest

The Faerie Festival at Burley, New Forest, Hampshire
We have just got back from the New Forest where we have been attending this great event,set in  beautiful countryside and surrounded by ancient woodland. In this landscape lies hidden over two hundred ancient barrows, thought to be home to the faeries. One such iron age barrow is the Colt Pixies Cave named after the Colt Pixies who take on the form of a horse and lead the wild horses of the New Forest into bogs and other dangers.

But luckily no naughty colt pixies were present at the weekend, the weather on Saturday was wonderful and it brought all the nice faeries out to play! Sunday brought a stiff breeze but still the faeries came and the brief heavy downpour did nothing to dampen everybody's enjoyment of the festival.

There were lots of little faeries, big faeries, wizards and even an Ent!


We had lots of little faerie visitors to the stand during the two days.

Here is one little faerie plus dad!

even a faerie dog!

There were all sorts of activities and live music going on throughout the day, a puppet show put on by The Dragons of Wye- Ten Puppet Theatre(congratulations to Lynsy McLennan who has just had a short story ' Sticklebacks and Butterflies published in The Peoples Friend)

A fancy dress competition was held by the fairy officials for the best costumes.

There were lots of other faerie artists at the event as well as myself;  Josephine Wall,  Chris Down,
 
  Simon Fastnedge, a local artist from Dorset
 .
and world renowned illustrator for Terry Pratchett, Paul Kidby and many more talented artists. All this and lots of stalls selling essential gear for faeries, wings, wands, ears, faerie tutus; in fact anything a faerie could need!So if you are in the area next year check out this fantastic festival.
 http://newforestfairyfestival.com

Folklore of Ivy

       This plant brings good luck   fun and happiness, and growing some  over the outside wall of your house will deter misfortune.  If you have a houseplant of ivy and it dies this might  signify that financial problems may be looming.
 Ivy was sacred to Bacchus god of wine and to show that good wine could be found within, innkeepers would hang garlands of ivy around their doors.
Ivy is the emblem of fidelity and it used to be customary to hand a wreath of ivy leaves to newly weds. The bridesmaids would also carry some mixed in with their bouquets as it was believed to  aid fertility and bring good luck. Wands entwined with ivy are still used in nature fertility rites and in spells for love magic. (Not to be ingested)
For a man to dream of his future bride he must  pick a leaf  on the 31st Oct and place it under his pillow.
For a women to dream of her future husband  she must collect some leaves and recite the following:

‘Ivy, Ivy  I love you,In my bosom I put you,The first young man who speaks to memy future husband he shall be’
 If you dream of an ivy plant it may fortel a breakup.

In Shropshire drinking from an ivy cup will cure a child from whooping cough, it will also cure an alcoholic. Placing a trail of ivy leaves across a drunks path will sober him up and bring him to his senses.The use of ivy as a medicine has been known for hundreds of years. One of the earliest 
written document from 900 AD describes the use of ivy twigs being boiled in butter for the relief
of sunburn and the berries were once recommended as a cure for rheumatism. There have been a host of other uses for the plant over the years: wearing a garland of ivy leaves around the head was 
believed to prevent hair loss due to an illness, ivy soaked in vinegar and wrapped around a corn would cure it. And pressing out the juice from the leaves and taking it up the nostrils would help to cure a cold and streaming nose.

Faerie Flora 2013

The Lavender Witch: serialised part 5

‘It’s still a clear night out there,’ he said pulling the bedroom curtains closed. ‘No more hail or boulders falling.’‘It wasn’t hail.’ Kitty padded through from the bathroom.
‘You have left all the lights on,’ Gordon complained.‘I’m going to leave them on.’‘Don’t be ridiculous, I pay enough for the electricity as it is!’Gordon strode past her to the bathroom and turned out the light then turned off the one on the landing, leaving the hall in darkness except for the light flooding out of the bedroom. As he did so he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall below and glanced down the stairs expecting to see Nero moving about. He leant on the banister and called down.  ‘Back in your bed, Nero!’ Down in the dark well of the hall a pale faced figure stood looking up at him.  Gordon uttered a muffled yelp and staggered back from the top of the stairs. He stared in horrified amazement, frozen to the spot as the grey clad figure stared intently up at him, keeping her pale eyes fixed on his she gathered her long skirt in one hand and slowly lifted one foot and placed it on the first step.‘What is it?’ His gaze just for a minute flicked away from the strange apparition as Kitty called from the bedroom and when he looked back the figure had vanished.‘There’s somebody down there,’ he called through to her.There was a thump as Kitty jumped out of the bed and ran out to the landing.Gordon was peering intently down into the hall.‘Turn the light on.’Kitty clicked on all the switches, flooding the stair and the downstairs with light.‘There was somebody stood there at the bottom of the stairs, I could just see her in the dark staring at me,’ he ran a shaky hand over his chin and shook his head in disbelief.‘It was a woman?’Gordon nodded and started slowly down the stairs. ‘You’re not going down are you?’ Kitty pulled at his arm in panic.Gordon shrugged her off. ‘Damn right I am! If somebody is in my house I want to know who it is.’ He carried on closely followed by Kitty who kept a firm grip on his arm.Nero came out from the kitchen and wagged his tail. ‘Why isn’t he barking?’ Gordon looked puzzled; he turned the lights on in the living room and stared around the empty room, even peering behind the door. ‘You didn’t check behind the sofa.’‘The front door is locked so she didn’t get out this way,’ he said checking the bolt on the door.There was nobody in the study and the kitchen was empty except for the dog  who had climbed back into his bed and was watching them curiously.‘This door is locked as well.’ Kitty shivered. ‘Now who’s imagining things?’‘I didn’t! She was there. I could describe to you in detail what the woman was wearing and what she looked like and if I could I would draw a portrait of her for you!’ He ran a hand over his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.‘This is ridiculous! This is a new house, new houses don’t have ghosts.’‘Perhaps she climbed out one of the windows.’‘They’re all locked,’ he said. ‘And I would have heard her opening one. I don’t understand this at all, Kitty.’She folded her arms tightly around her body and shivered. ‘So I wasn’t being hysterical then! There is something in this house,’ Kitty pulled at her bottom lip. ‘What are we going to do?’Gordon sighed and looked around. ‘I think we had better go back to bed, come on,’ he put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. ‘Sorry I didn’t believe you,’ he said apologetically. ‘I think we’ll leave all the lights on, just for tonight, otherwise we’ll be jumping at all the shadows.’ Kitty pulled the quilt up and watched Gordon sitting thoughtfully on the edge of the bed.‘What?’ she asked.‘Uhhm? What?’‘What are you thinking about?’‘Nothing,’ he got up and looked out of the window.‘What is it?’‘Nothing, go to sleep.’ Gordon pulled the curtains closed and climbed into bed. He pulled the pillows up behind his head and picked up his book, perched his glasses on his nose and began to read.‘Are you going to read?’ she asked incredulously.‘Yep, this is a good book and I want to finish it.’Kitty curled up in a ball close to his side, the quilt wrapped up around her head. His hand came down and started to gently stroke her head. ‘Go to sleep Kitty.’She didn’t think for a moment that she would but a strange feeling of calm swept over her and she felt herself slowly relaxing and drift off into a deep dreamless sleep.

Tuesday


The next thing she heard was the incessant beeping of the alarm, Gordon didn’t stir, he was still propped up on his pillows, glasses awry on his nose and the book open in his hand.Kitty reached across him and switched it off.She brought him a cup of tea a few minutes later but he was still asleep.‘Gordon, Gordon,’ she poked him on the arm. ‘Wake up.’‘Hmm...’‘You’ll be late for work.’He opened his eyes and yawned. ‘What time is it?’‘Half seven.’‘Didn’t hear the alarm,’ he mumbled, rubbing his head.‘You were out cold, what time did you read until?’‘Don’t know; it was a good book.’She picked up the book and looked at it. ‘It doesn’t look like you read much, you haven’t finished it.’ She threw the book back onto the bed next to him and headed for the door. ‘Hurry up, and I’ll make some breakfast.’
Kitty put a plate of toast on the table just as Gordon shambled in yawning. ‘Oh darn my back is stiff.’‘Sleeping like that I’m not surprised,’ she looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. ‘You had better hurry or you’ll be late for work.’‘Um, I think I will have the day off, I’ve got some hours owing to me. I know it’s short notice but I’m sure the office can manage without me.’‘What?’ she said jokingly. ‘They’ll go into meltdown if you’re not there.’‘They’ll manage,’ he repeated sitting at the table and buttering some toast. Kitty sat down in the chair opposite and stared in disbelief. Gordon never had time off except for holidays and was never ill.‘Why?’ she asked.‘I was thinking last night for a while, about all this, trying to make sense of it.’‘And?’‘I couldn’t to be honest, I’m completely baffled. But I do know what I saw and there was somebody or something stood at the bottom of the stairs.’ She said nothing, staring at her husband who for once looked a bit rattled. He usually sailed through life completely calm and in control. Kitty found this to be the most alarming thing of all.
Gordon checked all the windows after breakfast, trying all the locks.‘All the windows are locked tight, I was going to check them again last night but I didn’t want to wake you.’‘How long did you stay awake?’‘Most of the night, I was just thinking, I finally dropped off after four. Every noise made me jump.’‘It’s strange to see you so spooked.’‘Is that because I’m a thick skinned male?’ he joked.‘Yes,’ Kitty replied, wandering back into the kitchen. Nero looked up hopefully.‘Ah Nero, it’s that time isn’t it?’ she said patting him on the head. ‘I’ll just get ready and then we’ll be off”‘What? Who are you talking to?’ Gordon quickly followed her into the kitchen.‘I’m just talking to the dog; he’s waiting for his walk.’‘We’ll go together,’ Gordon said firmly.‘But you don’t like walking with me, I’m too slow remember,’‘Then we’ll have a slow walk. Go on then, go and get your coat.’
‘Where shall we go?’ asked Kitty closing the front door behind them.‘We’ll walk up the hill and see that cottage.’‘The cottage? Really?’‘Yes really, the cottage,’ Gordon slipped his arm through his wife’s. ‘Come on.’ Kitty led the way up the narrow lane to the stile. ‘Here’s the footpath I used, the sign is broken though.’Gordon pushed a few brambles out of the way and picked up the remains of the rotted sign.‘What does it say?’‘Castle Hill I think,’ he said, rubbing the moss off the wood. They followed the same route up the hill that Kitty had used on Sunday and up to the copse at the top.‘Through here,’ Kitty said pointing to the dense bushes, she was feeling a bit nervous after her previous visit but Gordon calmly pushed his way through the brambles to the clearing beyond. There were still a few ragged blooms on the rose bushes even after all the heavy rain and the smell of lavender still hung over the garden.‘What a beautiful spot,’ he said turning in a full circle. ‘Take those trees down out of the way and what a view it would be.’‘It’s quite lonely though, up here.’‘But nice and peaceful,’ said a voice from behind them. The couple started and turned round. ‘Sorry, we didn’t see you there,’ said Gordon.  It was Mrs Leavenham from the shop, sitting on the remains of the wall, she was well wrapped up against the early morning chill, with a thick coat and a scarf wound around her neck. A small brown cairn terrier sat at her feet. ‘It is lovely up here but it’s becoming quite a struggle to get up that hill,’ she said ruefully.‘We came up to look at the cottage,’ said Gordon.‘I found it the other day,’ explained Kitty, moving over the rough ground towards her.‘Well there’s nothing much left of it now, William cleared it all out several years ago, beams floorboards, the lot. I couldn’t see that it was worth much but he said he got a good price from a chap near Ilminster.’‘What the reclamation yard?’ exclaimed Gordon.‘That’s the one.’‘Do you know if there was big wooden fireplace, an old oak one really big?’‘Well,’ she hesitated. ‘I believe there was one and there was a small cast iron one in the bedroom.’‘It’s the oak fireplace I’m interested in,’ said Gordon in excitement.‘That was in the kitchen, they say that was where she made most of her medicines, potions and suchlike.’‘Medicines? I thought she was supposed to be a witch,’ Kitty said surprised.‘Oh that’s nonsense,’ said Mrs Leavenham in disgust, curling her lip. ‘I remember my gran telling me she used to come up here all the time, especially when one of the children were ill. There was no chemist to pop into then. She helped Hannah to pick all the herbs.’‘Herbs? What, from the garden?’‘Ay, it was her husband’s pride and joy, so my gran said. Spent hours out here he did, now look at it. Still,’ Mrs Leavenham sighed.  ‘It was a long time ago.’‘I didn’t realise she was married,’ Kitty said in amazement and perched on the wall next to the old woman. ‘She couldn’t have been that horrible then.’‘No of course she wasn’t, well, she changed after Samuel was killed; she was a good woman but just very sad and lonely.’ Mrs Leavenham said sadly.‘What happened to him?’ she asked curiously.‘Well, I was told Samuel was a cripple and couldn’t work much but he used to help his brother with odd jobs on the farm from time to time. They were working on the river bank in one of the lower fields when Samuel slipped into the river and drowned. They found his body in the harbour a few days later.’‘How dreadful! Couldn’t his brother help him?’ asked Kitty.‘Well it was said that Robert couldn’t reach him in time.’‘Robert who?’‘Why Beamish of course.’‘What our Mr Beamish’s family?’ asked Kitty in surprise.‘That’s right, Robert was William’s grandfather and then of course as Hannah and Samuel had no living children when she died the cottage returned to Robert Beamish.’ ‘What do you mean Mrs Leavenham?’ asked Kitty perplexed.‘Their father oh I forget his name, my memory!’ she tapped her forehead in irritation. ‘Well never mind, yes their father gave the cottage to Samuel when he married Hannah. Gran always said there was no love lost between the two brothers, and Robert was furious when he found out.  He didn’t want the property split up; he said the land was his.’‘Well, well, Mrs Leavenham you are a mine of information,’ said Gordon‘Well my husband always said I was a gossip and I suppose I am,’ she laughed. ‘But I have lived here all my life and I know most things about the families around here, the stories I could write! Well,’ she pulled her coat around her and stood up. ‘I must be getting on; I have to help in the shop this morning.’‘We had better be going as well,’ said GordonKitty shivered and stood up. ‘I suppose so and I’m getting chilly. Where’s the dog?’Nero hadn’t gone far; he had forced himself under the bramble bushes and was trying to dig out one of the rabbit holes.‘Nero stop that!’The old woman walked slowly across the garden to the path that Kitty had used. ‘Well goodbye for now,’ she said looking at Kitty.’ I’m sure we’ll bump into each other soon,’ waved and started to walk carefully down the rough path.‘Come on then let’s get going,’ Gordon pushed his way back through the bramble bushes. ‘We’ll go back the same way.’ Kitty quickly followed not wanting to be left alone.‘As soon as we get home I’m going to ring the yard and see if he can remember anything about the fireplace,’ said Gordon.‘Do you think it’s the same one?’‘Well perhaps, it’s a start anyway and it might explain why she is in our house.’‘So the witch is haunting our fireplace, isn’t that a bit ridiculous?’Kitty half laughed.‘Of course it is, this whole thing is ridiculous, but let’s just keep an open mind shall we?’‘It sounds like Mr Beamish is struggling for money,’ Kitty climbed over the stile and paused to get her breath. ‘He has a rather interesting family history but I don’t see what that has to do with us.’Gordon walked on quickly down the field to the stile. ‘Maybe we will find out. Come on.’‘What happened to the slow walk?’‘I want to phone the reclamation yard so hurry up.
Gordon wasn’t on the phone long but Kitty couldn’t catch much of the conversation as he had shut the kitchen door, after straining to hear for a while she gave up, shrugged her shoulders and started to make some tea.The door opened and he came in looking very pleased with himself. ‘Well I was right, the fireplace did come from Hannah’s cottage and you’ll never guess what else they found!’‘A dead body?’‘No!’ he said impatiently ‘There was a dried up bulls heart up the chimney, stuck all over with nails.’Kitty looked blankly at him. ‘What?’ She put two mugs of tea on the table and pulled out a chair.‘It’s quite common to find things like that stuck in chimneys, under floorboards. Old bottles filled with pins, skulls, old shoes.’‘What are you talking about Gordon?’ He picked up a mug. ‘It’s all to do with witchcraft.’Gordon walked over to the sink, stared out of the window into the garden and sipped thoughtfully at the tea.‘So she was a witch then?’ queried Kitty.‘No I don’t think so, these sort of things were used a protection against evil spirits and witchcraft.’‘Well she was supposed to have been taken by the devil; perhaps she was trying to protect herself against Old Nick.’Kitty wrapped her hands around the hot mug of tea and watched Gordon staring thoughtfully outside. ‘Shall we take the fireplace out?’‘No,’ he said crossly. ‘I’ll get to the bottom of this. Let me get my laptop and we’ll see what we can find out about Hannah.’‘How?’‘Newspaper reports or local records; if she’s as famous as the chap from the pub made out there’s bound to be some information on her.’Gordon brought in his computer and opened it. ‘Now let’s see what we can find, I’ll just Google her name first and see if anything comes up.’He tapped away for a few minutes. ‘Ahh! Here we are.’Kitty pulled her chair around the table next to Gordon and started to read.
Transactions of the Devonshire Association
About one hundred and ten years ago at a place called Medbury there lived a witch called Hannah Beamish. She was reputed to possess great powers and could turn herself into a hare when desired and the Cotley Harriers were often supposed to have hunted her across the county.At that time a well to do Farmer Mr........... lived at Medbury, his family was prosperous and well thought of in the local area.Hannah would often visit the farm of Mr ............ begging for food and sometimes for money. For a while she was given what she asked for but then Mr......... protested that it became too much and she was refused.  A young girl of eleven who was in the service of Mr.........was often a visitor to Hannah’s cottage and became great friends with the witch. She would often take Hannah food even though the master forbade it.The farmer complained bitterly that this was the beginning of his trouble. The milk would not set, the butter could not be made, bread put to bake only ran about the oven. His livestock suffered as well, sheep died of a strange sickness sometimes as many as ten in a day. A horse that Mr............ was going to sell was strangely blinded in one eye and so could not be sold.Mr.......... said that with one thing and another he was nigh to being ruined. So he brought in a white witch from Chard. This man stayed for a month in the farmhouse while he worked to bring down the witch who was the strongest and ‘runkest’ he ever knew. A large crock of water into which he had put a large quantity of barley was kept boiling all the time he was in the house. He also ordered six bullocks hearts to be hung in the fireplace, these were stuck all over with pins and nails. They slowly melted in the flames and it was believed that the witch’s heart was to be melted too.The white witch was sure that this would have broken Hannah’s powers and at four in the morning went towards her cottage. This was Good Friday morning. He found the window broken and looking about he saw high above him in a tree lying on a branch the witch wound in a sheet. There she was left for the village folk and the servants to see. The tree was cut down as she was too high to be got at and as the tree fell the witch fell into a gully. Hannah’s flesh was much torn and a great round bruise was found on the side of her temple, it was said in the shape of a cloven hoof.Inside the cottage there was blood smeared about and broken glass on the floor. This was caused, so they said, by Hannah struggling with the devil who pulled her through the window.The corpse was visited by scores of people from all parts and then buried at a crossroads between Medbury and Axminster. It was said that no horse could pass the spot without shying.The white witch was paid one hundred pounds for his work.The inquest on the death of Hannah was held at Axminster on April 12th 1841, the verdict was returned of ‘water on the brain’. An impassioned plea by the servant girl that Hannah had been murdered was ignored by the Coroner Mr Edmund Foulstone, due to the youth and emotional state of the young girl. She declared that she had witnessed Mr........threatening to kill Hannah and that she knew Hannah to be no witch. This evidence was struck from the records.Hannah Beamish became the most famous witch in East Devon. The manner of her death suggests that the devil must have been extremely angered that she had been bested by the white witch.
Gordon and Kitty sat silent and stunned.‘Well,’ said Gordon slowly. ‘I can’t believe this, after finding blood and glass in the cottage, the body hanging in a tree and it’s put down as water on the brain.’‘What is water on the brain?’‘No idea, but whatever it is, it certainly wouldn’t account for her death like this,’‘How could a death like that be anything but murder?’‘A hundred pounds was lot of money then, enough to murder somebody,’ Gordon said thoughtfully, rereading the article.‘I wonder who the servant girl was.’ Kitty said.‘Let’s see if we can find out, I’ll just save this and I can print it out later.’ He rummaged in his laptop bag for a memory stick.‘Hey! I’ve just had a thought,’ Kitty said excitedly. ‘You don’t suppose that the servant girl was Mrs Leavenham’s grandmother?’‘I wonder?’ he looked at her thoughtfully and smiled. ‘You know you can be quite bright sometimes.’‘Oh thanks dear, you’re too kind,’ she grinned at him. ‘Can we ask her? She would know if it was her grandmother. I bet she would know who the farmer was as well, Mrs Leavenham seems to know everything about this village.’Gordon started tapping on his keys again. ‘Let’s see what else we can find. I will put in newspaper reports and her name and we’ll see what come up.’He tapped away for few minutes and suddenly pointed at the screen. ‘Hey look at this; we’re really hitting the jackpot today! It’s a newspaper report about Samuel’s death.’
The Seaton Chronicle14th March 1840The tragic death of Samuel John Beamish second son of Joseph Beamish of Castle Farm, Medbury, Devon occurred on the 14th day of March 1840. The late Samuel Beamish was drowned after falling into the River Axe. Samuel had been working with his brother Robert Beamish making repairs to the fence bordering the river and had slipped while working and had fallen into the water. His brother Robert had been unable to reach him and Samuel was swept away. His body was found on the 16th of March in the harbour at Seaton by Mr Abraham Tulley, Harbour Master.The remains of Samuel Beamish were laid to rest at the church of St John the Baptist Medbury.The Coroner Mr Edward Foulstone recorded death by misadventure at the Inquest held at Axminster 20th April 1840.

Gordon stared pensively at the wall. ‘I think I will go and see if Mr Beamish is about and see what he can tell us about Hannah.’Kitty stood up from the table, ‘I’m coming as well,’ she said firmly.‘You don’t have to; you can stay here as you don’t like him.’‘I’m not staying here on my own and anyway I want to hear what he has to say, and you won’t tell me everything.’‘Just because I don’t repeat every single word of a conversation, I’ll distil it and give you the essence.’‘But you always miss out the interesting bits,’ she complained.Gordon stared at her and hesitated. ‘I don’t know though, perhaps it would be better to go and see Mrs Leavenham first, see if we can find out the name of the servant girl and the farmer.’
Gordon slipped the lead over Nero’s head and pulled him to the side of the lane as a car drove slowly up the hill but the vehicle turned into the farmyard before it reached them. A young woman who had a striking resemblance to Mrs Leavenham raised her hand in greeting at the couple as she pulled off the road.A fine drizzle started to fall wetting the tarmac. Kitty pulled up the hood on her coat and zipped it up against the rain and hurried down the lane after Gordon.The village was deserted, their footsteps echoing off the walls of the cottages as they walked through the narrow street to the shop. It was closed, the sign on the door declared that it was half day closing.‘Damn,’ said Gordon. ‘She must live in the village, if we see anybody we could ask.’‘Or we could look in the phone book and ring.’Gordon stared moodily at the locked door for a moment. ‘Oh well,’ he said and turned pulling the dog to heel. ‘That’s a shame; I really wanted to talk to her.’Kitty walked out into the middle of the street and looked up and down. ‘There’s nobody about today and it’s no good asking in the pub, they wouldn’t know.’‘Perhaps she is in there having a pint.’‘I can’t see her perched on a bar stool can you?’They walked back through the village and up the hill, the rain had become heavier and little rivulets of water ran down the side of the lane carrying the fast falling leaves of autumn.A horse and rider appeared out of the farm entrance, they recognised her as the young woman from earlier. She waved and turned left and rode up the lane past their house, the hoof beats quickening into a trot.‘Perhaps he’s not in,’ Kitty said as they walked into the farmyard.‘He’s in,’ Gordon pointed to the house where he could see Mr Beamish opening one of the lower floor windows.  ‘Hello there,’ he called. ‘Everything okay?’

The Folklore of Bramble

To harm the bramble bush is forbidden as it belongs to the faerie folk and the first berries of the season  must be left for them. If you do not, then any following fruit that you pick will be rotten and full of maggots.
Even the ancient Celts believed it to be sacred; for them the fruit represented the three aspects of the Goddess: maiden, mother, crone. As the berries changed from white to red then black they believed this signified birth, life and death and the seeds of the fruit were the promise of spring and rebirth.

To keep off evil spirits, pick bramble at the full moon and make a wreath, including rowan and ivy. Then hang over the doors to your house; this will also protect the inhabitants against evil spells. This belief in the protective qualities of bramble led them to being planted around fresh graves to protect loved ones against evil, although in some areas it was believed that this would stop the dead rising and returning as ghosts.
If you are troubled by vampires either plant a bramble near to your house or place the berries on the threshold. The vampire will obsessively count the berries and thorns until the first light of day when he will have to depart.

There is a traditional rhyme that goes...

‘There was a man in our town,And he was wondrous wise,He jumped into a bramble bush,And scratched out both his eyes....
And when he saw what he had done,With all his might and mainHe jumped into the bramble bush,And scratched them back again!’
Crawling under the arch of a bramble bush which has formed a second root will cure rheumatism, boils etc. If a child suffers from whooping cough pass it through the arch seven times while chanting:
‘In bramble , out cough, here I leave the whooping cough’
Eating the fruit will also help these ailments but remember not to eat them after 10th Oct, Devil Blackberry Day, as the Devil spits on them.
When the Devil was kicked out of heaven he fell into a blackberry bush and has hated them ever since.
Imps and elves inhabit the bushes and will catch you hair and clothes in the thorns when you
try to pick the fruit.


 Bramble leaves can be used with a healing spell for the treatment of burns: dip nine leaves in running water and lay them on the affected area, say to each leaf as you apply it ‘Three ladies came from the east, one with fire and two with frost, out with fire and in with frost’
Or alternatively bruise a handful of fresh leaves and apply to the burn. This can be used for piles, skin ulcers and eczema as well.
A decoction of the leaves can be used for sore throats and if you would like a natural mouth wash it can also be used for this.
The juice of the berries mixed with the juice of mulberries binds the stomach in cases of diarrhoea, helps sores and ulcers and is good for piles.
The leaves boiled in lye and used to wash the scalp relieves an itchy scalp and makes the hair black.


'Faerie Flora' 2013

The Hedley Kow, a bogle

The Hedley Kow is a bogle from Northumberland who delights in making a nuisance of himself by putting machinery out of order, knocking over cooking pots and unravelling knitting but his favourite pastime is carrying out practical jokes.
There is an old story of a poor woman who managed to scratch a living by doing chores on the neighbouring farms. She was on her way home after a long day when she spied a big black pot at the side of the road.
'Now that' she said 'Would do for me if only I had something to put in it.' She looked around to see if she could see it's owner but seeing no one picked it up. Exclaiming at the weight she lifted the lid.
'Mercy me! she cried out. 'If it isn't brim full of gold pieces.'
She could do nothing for several minutes but admire the gold and plan how she was going to get it home. So the old woman fastened the end of her shawl to the pot and dragged it behind her down the road.
All the while she chuckled to herself , telling herself how lucky she was and planning on what to do with the gold. By and by the old women got tired of pulling the heavy weight behind her and stopped to rest, glancing behind her to make sure her treasure was safe she was astounded to see that the pot of gold had disappeared and in it's place was a lump of shining silver! She stared and rubbed her eyes for a while then congratulated herself that the silver would be less trouble to look after.
So the old woman went on her way again, congratulating herself on her luck and planning on what to buy with the silver. But it wasn't long before she began to tire again and had to stop and rest. Again she turned to check on her treasure and as soon as she set eyes on it cried out in astonishment.
'Oh my!' she said 'Now it's a lump of iron. Well that beats all and it's just real convenient. I can sell the iron much easier than the silver and gold and get lots of penny pieces for it!'
So on she trotted still feeling very pleased with her luck until she glanced over her shoulder.
'Eh my!,' she said 'If it hasn't gone and turned into a gurt big stone! Well isn't that a piece of luck, I was looking for something to prop my door open with.'
The old woman hurried home dragging the gurt big stone behind her until at last she reached her front door. She bent to unfasten the shawl from the stone when all of a sudden it gave a jump and a squeal and grew until it was a large as a horse. Four lanky legs sprouted from it's body and from it's head popped out two long ears, it flourished it's tail at the old woman and ran off kicking it's hooves into the air while laughing like a naughty schoolboy.
She stared openmouthed until it had disappeared from view.
'WELL!' she said at last. 'I do be the luckiest body hereabouts. Fancy me seeing the Hedley Kow all to myself and making so free with it. I can tell you I do feel that grand!' And she spent the rest of the evening congratulating herself on her good fortune!

New Forest Fairy Festival 16TH-17TH AUGUST 201410am -6pmB...

New Forest Fairy Festival 16TH-17TH AUGUST 201410am -6pmBURLEY PARK, BURLEY, HAMPSHIRE
Come and join us for a friendly uplifting fun weekend. Enjoy the magik of the enchanting home of the New Forest Fairies. Nestling in the lea of a hill where time has stood still for hundreds of years surrounded by mighty oakes, tree spirits and woodland creatures, lives the forest fairy folk, under every leaf , behind every tree you might see them. Listen for the fairy bell and they will appear, there gossamer wings glinting in the sunlight.

The Lavender Witch: serialised part 4

Monday


‘You look terrible this morning.’Kitty looked at her husband in disgust. ‘Thank you, you say the nicest things.’ She cupped a hot cup of coffee in her hands and pulled her thick dressing gown closer around her, she shivered and pulled a tissue out of the pocket and blew her nose.‘Aren’t you feeling well?’‘No, I’ve got a headache and I was coughing all night. So I didn’t keep you awake then?’‘No,’ Gordon carried on eating his breakfast.Kitty stood up from the table and started rummaging in one of the kitchen cupboards looking for the first aid box and opened it.‘I can’t remember if we’ve got any cold capsules, perhaps I can get some at the shop.’Gordon stood up and carried his plate and cup over to the sink. ‘I can pick up some later for you on the way back from work.’Kitty nodded at him. ‘Leave that, I’ll do it in a minute.’Gordon kissed the top of her head ‘Okay, I’d better get going or I’ll be late, ring me if you do want me to pick anything up.’Kitty sat at the table with a cup of tea, outside the sun was shining and it made the events of last night seem unreal but while she tried to dismiss it Kitty could still feel the touch of those fingers on her shoulder and she shivered. She stared out the window into the garden, the apple trees still had one or two shrivelled little apples clinging to their branches. The leaves were falling fast now and were blowing around the garden in the slight breeze.
Perhaps I’ll have a bonfire later, she thought. And clear all those up.Kitty pushed the chair back and sneezed. ‘Oh bless me! I think I will walk down to the shop and see if I can get something for this cold.’
Although it was a lovely morning there was a nip to the air and Kitty was glad that she had wrapped up in a thick coat. Nero was on a lead this morning as there were a few cars about, probably on their way to work.A few late sprigs of honeysuckle were still growing in the hedge and Kitty picked one and tucked it into a buttonhole.Apart from the cars Kitty had the lane to herself and she enjoyed the walk to the shop, the fresh air was helping to clear her headache and by the time she had reached the bottom of the hill it had all but disappeared.Kitty pushed open the shop door, leaving Nero tied up outside, the dog whined and pulled at his lead. ‘Oh shush... I won’t be long,’ she reassured him.‘Good morning,’ Mrs Leavenham was stood behind the counter unpacking some boxes; she looked up and smiled when Kitty opened the door. ‘Isn’t it a lovely morning after all that rain?’‘What a storm!’‘I hope you didn’t get wet yesterday, I saw you walk past the shop.’‘I made it back home just in time, I walked to the top of the hill; it’s quite a view from up there.’‘It certainly is, now what can I get you?’‘Have you got any cold remedies? I was coughing and sneezing all night and I can’t bear having a cold.’‘Well now, I’ve got the usual, throat lozenges or there’s this, it’s called Honey Linctus. It’s locally made, wonderful stuff, I always use it.’Mrs Leavenham handed over a bottle filled with a thick brown liquid.‘It looks disgusting,’ Kitty picked up the bottle and peered at its contents doubtfully.‘I know, it tastes disgusting as well so be warned,’ she smiled. ‘But we all use it. Last year when we had that flu I ran out and couldn’t get any for weeks.’‘Who makes it?’‘Oh, it’s a local chap, he used to have a pharmacy in Seaton, everybody has the recipe but he makes it up for us.’Mrs Leavenham wrapped the bottle in a paper bag. ‘I’ll wrap it as the bottle is a bit sticky, this will help, I promise.’‘Well I’ll give it a go then, how much is it?’‘Two pounds fifty, dear. It’s been used for years around here. The recipe came originally from a woman in the village; she was the local midwife and was very good with herbs and suchlike. Here’s your change, now how are you settling in?’ Mrs Leavenham looked at her intently, head on one side. ‘Oh, okay I think, I suppose it will take time to get used to being in a new place,’ Kitty hesitated. ‘I keep hearing strange noises in the house.’ She suddenly felt very silly admitting to it and wished she had said nothing.‘Oh don’t you worry, my daughter had the same thing when she moved into a new house in Axminster. She was convinced that the house was haunted.’ Mrs Leavenham laughed ‘It was just the house settling, I expect that’s what you can hear.’‘Perhaps that’s it,’ Kitty said doubtfully, she hesitated but decided to let the subject drop. ‘Well thanks for this,’ she raised the bottle. ‘I’d better be going, still loads to do.’She closed the door and untied the dog.  ‘Come on let’s go home.’ Kitty waved through the shop window at the old woman who was watching her with a slight frown on her face from behind the counter, she smiled briefly in response before turning back to the boxes.

Kitty spent the rest of the morning unpacking the cardboard boxes in the utility room, most of it went in the garage as it was the contents of Gordon’s shed from their previous home. She squashed the empty boxes flat and piled them on the grass at the end of the garden meaning to have a bonfire.She was just heading off to find the rake in the garage when she became aware of a figure on the other side of the wall. Kitty turned. ‘Oh Mr Beamish, hello.’He stood leaning against the stone wall staring at her, his work hardened hands clenched over the rough stones.‘How are you?’ she asked. ‘I was just going to have a bonfire, get rid of these boxes and all the leaves need clearing.’He didn’t answer and Kitty was suddenly worried.‘This isn’t going to annoy you is it? If I have a fire?’He remained silent and Kitty was surprised by the strange intensity of his stare. Feeling very uncomfortable under his scrutiny and unsure of what to say next she turned and walked down the path to the house.‘Well, I’ll get on then Mr Beamish, nice to see you’ Kitty opened the side door to the garage and glanced back up the garden, but he had disappeared and she felt strangely relieved.The rake was in a clutter of tools at the back, she pulled it out, reluctant to go back outside. She hesitated and peeped out the half open door. Kitty chided herself. ‘For goodness sake what is wrong with you, you daft old woman.’She spent the next hour steadily raking the grass and by the time she had finished had piled a huge pile of twigs and leaves on top of the cardboard. Kitty kept her head lowered as she worked unwilling to look up in case Mr Beamish had returned.‘Now I need some matches,’ she said to herself walking to the house. Opening the back door warm scented air met her as she entered the kitchen. ‘There you are dog, didn’t you want to help me in the garden then?’ She reached down and patted Nero’s head; he looked up, wagged his tail and yawned. ‘Lazy dog,’ she yawned as well. ‘Oh dear, I’ll have a cup of tea and sit down for a minute before I light the bonfire’Kitty put the kettle on, pulled out a chair and sat down with a sigh. She suddenly felt very tired and yawned again. ‘Maybe I will leave the bonfire until later. What do you think dog?’ she asked fondling his ears. Nero just yawned and snuggled his head down into the box.  It was beginning to get dark and Kitty felt quite chilled sitting at the table even with a hot cup of tea. She sneezed again and decided it was time to change into something warmer. After changing into a pair of thick cords and a warm jumper she hobbled stiffly back down the stairs, passing the front room door Kitty had a sudden urge to light the fire. The fireplace hadn’t been used yet and Gordon was looking forward to the weather getting colder so that they would have an excuse to use it. As Kitty was still feeling cold she decided it would be a good opportunity to try it out, the prospect of sitting in front of an open fire would be rather welcome for a while.Gordon had the kindling all ready piled up next to the grate and the log basket was full.Kitty scrumpled up a newspaper and put in on the grate and was just putting on the kindling when the phone rang. Easing herself up as her knees were stiff from her afternoon in the garden she hobbled into the hall hoping to get to the phone before it stopped ringing.‘Hello?’‘Hi dear it’s me, just checking to see if you still want some shopping.’‘No thanks, it’s okay, I bought some local potion from Mrs Leavenham, she swears by it, God knows what it’s in it though. It tastes disgusting.’‘Bat’s blood and eye of newt. Who knows? I will be home in about 10 minutes, see you. Kitty? Are you still there? Kitty!’ She didn’t answer; she had taken the phone away from her ear and was staring back into the living room.Kitty lifted the phone again. ‘Gordon, the fire’s lit.’‘That’s nice dear.’‘No, it’s not, I didn’t light it, I was just laying the fire when you rang.’‘You probably did it without realising; you know what your memory is like.’‘I didn’t light it Gordon there aren’t any matches in there so I couldn’t have!’ Her voice rose.‘Kitty calm down, I’ll be home in ten minutes.’ There was a click as Gordon put the phone down and a constant buzzing sound as Kitty stood in the hall with the phone still held to her ear. In the living room the fire blazed, the kindling popping and crackling was burning down quickly. The fire needed  feeding but Kitty hesitated before entering the room, as she stood in the hall she became aware of movement in Gordon’s chair near the fireplace.The phone clattered to the floor.The chair had been pulled up in front of the fire, the back facing the door. Unable to see the occupant of the chair she edged into the room grasping the door frame to stop herself from shaking. From the chair an arm stretched out, grasped a log and placed it into the flames.Kitty drew a strangled breath and backed slowly out of the room into the hall. The fire irons clattered on the hearth, the noise spurring her into action and she dashed into the kitchen and slammed the door behind her. Leaning against it she gazed wildly around the room and lit on the block of kitchen knives sitting on the worktop. Kitty leapt forward and pulled the largest carving knife out of the slot, with her other hand she dragged one of the kitchen chairs over to the door and jammed it under the handle and then sat on it.Kitty gripped the knife tightly trying to stop her hands shaking but after while her knuckles began to ache where she was holding it so tight. She forced herself to let go of the knife and balance it on her knees while she shakily massaged her hands. Outside in the hall it was quiet but she could still hear the fire popping as the kindling burnt, no other sound came from the living room and Kitty’s breathing was just getting beginning to slow when she heard the sound of the hearth being swept. Kitty jumped, the clatter of the knife falling to the floor made Nero start, he rested his head on the side of the dog box and looked at her sleepily.‘You’re some guard dog Nero!’ she whispered frantically. The kitchen clock ticked on slowly as she watched the hands creeping around the face. Kitty strained to hear the car pulling into the drive and for an awful minute thought that perhaps he had stopped at the supermarket. She was just considering running out the back door when she heard Gordon’s car. The front door banged open. ‘Kitty, Kitty where are you?’She dragged the chair away from the door and opened it. ‘Gordon! Why were you so long?’Kitty rushed towards him forgetting that she was still holding the carving knife. Gordon jumped back. ‘Wow! What are you doing with that?’ and put up an arm to fend her off.‘There’s somebody in the living room Gordon.’He stared at her in amazement. ‘What are you talking about?’ He walked into the room.  ‘There’s nobody here, look,’ he swung around and pulled her into the room. ‘Look it’s empty.’Kitty stared around the room nervously. ‘But I didn’t light the fire and I saw somebody in here.’‘Well, the fire is going a treat now,’ he said wearily. The fire was burning well, several logs had been piled on and a few lumps of coal had been placed on the flames. The room was already warm, the smell of wood smoke mingling with the fragrance of lavender.‘I’ve been shut in the kitchen since you rang; I was too frightened to come back in here.’‘Well you must have done it, I don’t know what’s wrong you at the moment. Perhaps you should go and see the doctor. Maybe it’s the stress from the move, or something?’ He looked worried, running his hand over his hair.‘It’s not stress,’ her voice trembled as she stared blankly around the empty room. Gordon took the knife from her hand and walked into the kitchen throwing it onto the table.‘Oh calm down Kitty, I’m sure there is a logical explanation.’‘What! I’ve just told you there was somebody in the house and you’re treating me as though I was nuts.’‘Oh for God’s sake Katherine,’ he exploded. ‘I’ve had a hard day at work and I have to come home to this!’ He shoved the chair back under the table scraping it along the tiled floor. ‘I think you should make an appointment tomorrow and get something for your nerves.’‘There’s nothing wrong with my nerves,’ she shouted at him. Gordon pushed past her not bothering to answer and headed for the stairs. Kitty slumped down in a chair and rested her head in her hands. Upstairs drawers were being dragged open and banged shut as Gordon changed out of his suit. It was strange how Kitty could always tell how annoyed Gordon was by the way he opened the drawers in the bedroom.Kitty pulled off a piece of kitchen roll and blew her nose. There was a movement at the door, she jumped and looked up. Gordon was standing in the doorway looking apologetic.‘Are you alright?’‘I’m okay,’ she said gruffly and sneezed. ‘Oh bother.’‘Did you say you had some medicine?’ he was trying to sound normal.Kitty looked at him for a moment. ‘I walked down to the shop this morning.’ She glanced away from him and stared at her clasped hands on the table.Gordon sighed and pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. ‘Shall I make tea tonight? I could make one of my curries.’‘If you like,’ she said quietly.He reached out and stroked her hand. ‘Everything’s okay Kitty, there’s nothing wrong with the house or the orchard. You’re just letting things get on top of you.’‘I’m fine Gordon.’He pushed the chair back and stood up. ‘Why don’t you go and have a soak while I make tea.’‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘No, I’ll stay here.’ Kitty glanced nervously into the hall; Nero was laying full stretch on the hall floor, fast asleep. ‘Why isn’t it bothering Nero?’ Gordon had his back turned while he was rummaging through the shelves in the freezer. He turned to face his wife. ‘What about the dog?’‘Every time I see or hear something in this house he hasn’t been worried at all.’‘Because there’s nothing to be worried about, that’s why.’He put a pan on the hob and started to chop onions ‘What have you been doing today? Have you been busy?’‘I was clearing up the garden, I was going to have a bonfire and I saw Mr Beamish, he was acting very strangely. I thought perhaps he was annoyed because I was going to have a fire but he didn’t answer when I asked him. He was really odd.’‘Oh dear, poor old Mr Beamish is going to get the Kitty treatment now is he!’‘That’s not funny.’‘Sorry,’ he looked at Kitty; she was slumped in the chair looking tired and dejected. ‘I’m sure you’ll laugh about it in the morning.’‘I doubt it.’Gordon filled a pan at the sink and put it on the hob before throwing some chopped peppers into the frying onions. ‘Prawn curry okay?’ he asked. She nodded. ‘Yes, there’s a curry sauce in the cupboard if you want it, on the second shelf.’ She half rose from her chair. ‘Shall I get it for you?’‘No, no sit still, I’ll get it.’ Gordon opened the sauce and poured it over the frying vegetables then threw the prawns on top of the mix, stirring it all together. The rice was gently bubbling on the hob and was nearly cooked.‘Can you set the table?’‘Yeah I’ll do that,’ she pushed herself up from the table and sneezed again. ‘Damn.’‘Bless you dear, the local magic potion doesn’t seem to be working.’Kitty blew her nose. ‘Well actually my throat isn’t so sore now so it must be working a bit.’She put out the place mats and the knives and forks. ‘I think there is some red wine left if you’d like some.’‘It should be lager with curry really but red wine will do.’Gordon set out the plates on the table. ‘That smells wonderful,’ she said.He brought over the dish of rice and curry. ‘Help yourself; I hope I have cooked enough rice.’ They were halfway through their meal when a strange drumming started on the roof.‘It’s raining again, sounds like a hard storm,’ said Gordon staring at the window.‘That’s really noisy,’ she paused with a forkful of food half way to her mouth. Kitty turned to look out the window as well but by now it was already dark and she couldn’t see a thing. The drumming got louder and louder until they were almost deafened.Kitty said alarmed ‘That sounds like hail but it’s not cold enough for that.’ The ferocious downpour continued, drumming on the roof and pinging off the windows of the kitchen, they sat in silence, their food forgotten. The lights in the kitchen flickered and Gordon glanced towards the hall in alarm. ‘Where did we put the torch?’‘You don’t think we’re going to have a power cut do you?’ asked Kitty worried, as she spoke the lights flickered again.  ‘I think it’s in the garage but there are some candles in the living room.’‘Well I’m sure we’re not going to need them Kitty, so don’t worry.’ Gordon reached across and patted her hand reassuringly. ‘It’s just the storm shaking the power lines that’s all.’ Nero whined and climbed out of his dog box, he pushed his way through their legs to get under the table and sat next to Kitty’s legs whining gently. She groped underneath the table to find his head and gave it a gentle reassuring pat.‘Wow! I’m glad I’m not out in this,’ Gordon had to raise his voice so that Kitty could hear him over the drumming noise.Kitty leant towards him over the table. ‘Do you remember that news report of hail stones in America that were the size of golf balls?’Gordon nodded. ‘Sounds like we have hail the size of boulders, but I don’t think I’ll go out just yet for a look.’The sound slowly abated until within a few minutes there was just occasional ping of the hail stones on the window.‘Ah, it’s stopping, thank goodness,’ he said rising from his chair. Gordon opened the back door. ‘Let’s look at the icebergs,’ he joked and switched on the outside light. It shone out brightly lighting up the path and illuminating half of the garden, the apple trees just beyond the pool of light were dark fingered shapes casting shadows onto the farm buildings behind the stone wall. The path was bone dry, no hail or rain had fallen outside. He stared outside perplexed. ‘What? Look at this, there’s nothing out here Kitty. It’s dry, nothing has fallen at all!’ Kitty came to the door and peered over his shoulder. ‘What was it then? Perhaps a branch fell on the roof or something.’‘That wasn’t a branch, it sounded like hail but where is it?’Gordon stepped out onto the back step and looked left and right. ‘How strange,’ he said perplexed and walked down the side of the house.‘Gordon don’t go too far,’ she said in a panic, peering out of the door after him.‘I’m just here Kitty.’‘You have to admit that this is strange Gordon.’He looked at her impatiently. ‘I’m sure there is a logical explanation.’‘Well what is it then?’‘What?’‘The explanation.’He looked perplexed for a minute. ‘I’ll let you know when I think of one.’‘Good evening,’ a voice came from the dark lane making Kitty jump. She could just make out the figure of Mr Beamish waving an arm in greeting as he walked down the lane.‘Evening,’ Gordon called out, turned and caught sight of the expression on his wife’s face ‘He’s just a harmless old man,’ he said in exasperation.‘But he’s always around when something strange happens; perhaps he’s trying to scare us off his land.’ She watched the old man disappear down the lane.‘Now why would he want to do that?’ Gordon steered her back into the warm kitchen and shut the door.‘Perhaps it’s because we’re not locals.’‘Locals? Your family come from Axmouth, mine from just over the hill. If we were any more local as you put it we would have been born in his farmyard!’‘Perhaps he just doesn’t like us then.’‘He’s a very nice old man, he’s always friendly.’‘He wasn’t friendly when I was going to have my bonfire.’‘Why, what did he say?’‘Well nothing, he didn’t say anything, he just looked, well you know...weird.’‘Weird! Perhaps he thinks you’re weird, perhaps he’s heard that you’ve being seeing ghosts. That’s weird.’‘Well he was being very strange,’ huffed Kitty.‘You’re imagining things again Kitty, come on,’ he said calmly.  ‘Let’s just get on with our meal before it gets too cold.’‘What was that programme called from years ago, the spooky one?’‘The Twilight Zone.’‘That’s it! We’re living in the Twilight Zone!

The apple symbolises fruitfulness, prosperity, and ...

The apple symbolises fruitfulness, prosperity,  and rejuvenation and the wood is still seen as a symbol of security. Beware of entering an apple orchard as the trees are inhabited by faeries and pixies, so do not sit beneath a tree and fall asleep or you will fall under a faerie enchantment. If you wish to call upon the faeries summon them with a apple wood wand; and eating an enchanted apple will allow you to enter the faerie realm.


The oldest tree in the orchard is inhabited by the Apple Tree Man, who is the guardian of the orchard. To honour him the last few apples must be left for him and the pixies; this custom is called griggling, pixy hoarding and cullpixying. You can burn the bark as an offering to the faeries on midsummer night.
In Somerset and Dorset the orchards are guarded by the colt Lazy Lawrence, while in Yorkshire it is
Auld Goggie who stands guard over the trees.

One common belief is that the apple has many magical and healing properties and as with most traditional remedies there is a basis for this. The pectin in the apple is a good germicide which promotes healthy skin tissue. Apple juice, applied to the skin, cures redness and it was used to treat the redness caused by too much alcohol.
To cure a wart rub a cut apple over it then bury the apple in the garden. As the apple rots the wart will disappear, this remedy was also used for rheumatism. The juice of the apple can also be used to cure small cuts.
There are many superstitions surrounding apples and orchards, these beliefs were taken seriously in earlier days: felling an apple tree would bring the death penalty as it was believed to bring bad luck.
Apple blossom must not be brought into the house as it will bring sickness and the evil influence, and if blossom appears on a tree late in the season it foretells a death in the family.


‘A bloom on the tree when the apples are ripe,Is a sure termination of somebody’s life’


The apple symbolises fruitfulness so barren women would roll on the ground in orchards in an effort to conceive, they also believed that wearing pieces of bark pinned to their clothes would bring them a child, and if it was good year for apples then they could expect to have twins.
The main tradition of the orchard is the custom of wassailing the apple trees during the winter months. This is still prevalent today and has been revived in many country areas.
The owner of the orchard, along with friends,  gather in the orchard singing, firing shotguns into the branches and beating the trunks with sticks to drive out the evil spirits to ensure a good crop for the coming year.
Cider is drunk from the wassailing bowl which contains hot spiced cider, lumps of apple and pieces of toast.
The remains from the bowl is poured over the roots as an offering to the Apple Tree Man, and the cider soaked toast is placed in the forks of the trees.

‘Old Apple Tree we wassail thee, and happily thou wilt bear,For the Lord knows where we shall be,Till apples another year’
excerpt from  'Faerie Flora'