Page 19 of The Christmas Fayre on Holly Field

By the time she and Sara caught up with Bobby, Etta was being fussed by Owen and was lapping up the attention. Bobby was staring at the van with his mouth hanging open.

‘Are you on holiday?’ she heard her son ask.

‘No, I live in this all year round.’

Bobby turned to look at her. ‘Can he do that, Mam?’

‘He can, although I’m not sure I’d want to. Not with you lot – we’d get on each other’s nerves.’

‘I take it these are yours?’ Owen said.

‘They are,’ Harriet replied proudly. ‘Sara and Bobby, and the dog is called Etta.’

‘I’m Owen,’ Owen said.

‘We know. Mam told us. What’s that?’ Bobby was staring at a large cylindrical black bag hanging from a hook at the rear of the van. It looked a little like a punchbag, except it had a hose coming from it.

‘It’s a solar shower,’ Owen replied. Harriet was about to ask what that was, when he must have seen the confusion on her face. ‘I fill it with water from the standpipe over there and leave it in the sun for the day. The sun heats the water, then I take a shower with it.’

‘In the field? Like, with no clothes on?’ Bobby’s eyes were out on stalks.

Owen chuckled. ‘No, I have a proper shower room in my van, but I prefer using solar power to heat water when I can, rather than the van’s battery.’

‘You’ve got a shower? In there?’

Owen nodded. ‘And a kitchen with a fridge and an oven, as well as a bed and living room.’

‘How does it all fit in?’

‘It’s quite cosy,’ Owen said. ‘Would you like to see inside? You, too, Harriet, if you want.’

Oh, Harriet wanted: she was practically dying of curiosity. ‘If you don’t mind?’

‘I wouldn’t ask if I did,’ he said, smiling. ‘Thank goodness I cleaned up today. Just kidding,’ he added, when she raised her eyebrows. ‘You can’t live in such a confined space without being tidy.’ He gestured for her and the children to step inside.

It was one of those vans with a sleeping compartment over the cab and a side door to reach the living quarters, and Harriet felt rather strange as she followed Bobby, who had shot inside and could now be heard exclaiming loudly.

‘Wow! This is so cool. Can we have one, Mammy?’

Harriet stuck her head through the doorway and gasped. She’d never seen inside a camper van before, not in real life, and she was struck by how well-appointed and homely it was.

‘Go in,’ Owen urged, and she reluctantly climbed into it and made her way to the living room at the end. It was U-shaped, with a table in the middle. On it sat a laptop and a ceramic mug.

Harriet gazed around, amazed by how nice it was. Owen was right – it was cosy and very tidy. And was that a wood-burning stove in the corner? It was tiny and sat on a raised platform with a cupboard underneath. There was a door next to it, which Sara opened before Harriet could tell her not to.

‘It’s got a toilet!’ Sara exclaimed. ‘And a shower. He wasn’t telling fibs.’

‘I didn’t for one second think he was,’ Harriet said, mortified. She sent Owen an apologetic look over her shoulder. ‘Is that a wood burner?’

‘It is. Originally, that space was a wardrobe, but I had it taken out and installed a stove instead. It’s surprising how much heat it kicks out.’

‘Cool,’ Bobby said.

‘Hot, actually,’ Owen replied, and it took Bobby a second to get the joke.

‘He’s funny, Mam. I like his house.’

‘I like it, too,’ Sara said. ‘But you haven’t got a bath. I like a bath with lots of bubbles and bombs in.’

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