When I was just a little donkey, my Grampa Dennis told me stories about how on one night of the year magic happened, and you can be and do anything you wanted to. Piffle, I used to think. Until that is, Halloween happened at Apple Orchard!
We donkeys had enjoyed a lovely day in the orchard, eating grass and a few strange things called toadstools, which Dave had told us not to eat! After dark there were bright lights and loud music in the barn. All the people were in funny costumes. Despite all the noise our eyes started to close and we three fell asleep only to wake up to a whole new world!
WAKE UP! WAKE UP I shouted! Everything is in cartoon! What is happening? And then I knew it – Grampa Dennis was right. This was that moment, that time we could do anything we wanted to. But what to do?
“Join the disco” said the goats. “Go fishing” said Sox, one of the barn cats. “Surf the Severn Bore” said the ducks. “I know,” said Daisy, “lets canoe the River Wye!” Madness, totally bonkers! Hee haw, hee haw! “Lets do it! Follow me” said Dottie. So while Apple Orchard was rocking and partying, we donkeys, goats, ducks and cats headed to Symonds Yat for our Halloween Adventure!
When we got to the river we found a boat with a lovely wooden paddle. We jumped inside and by the light of the moon we paddled away down the river. It was amazing, at least until we hit the rapids and Sox the cat flew out the top, grabbing the side of the boat on her way down, and our only paddle fell out of the back! Yikes! Now what?
Quack, Quack, along came the ducks to save the day, and our paddle. They dropped it into the boat and off we went again.
Several hours later we got back to the campsite. All was quiet and still, but being the caring donkeys we are, we took a tip toe trot around around the caravans to make sure everyone was tucked up safe in their beds. The others headed back to the orchard to play with the pumpkins and tell horror stories while sitting in a circle on the logs in the playground.
What a mad Halloween night, but the biggest surprise was still to come…
When we all woke up today, everything was back to normal! No more cartoons! Our gates were locked and all the cartoons had disappeared. Daisy said those toadstools had given us crazy dreams, and it couldn’t possibly be real. But as we stepped out of the Donkey Barn I turned around and saw our wooden paddle leaning against the door! Could it possibly be real? Did we really canoe the River Wye? We’ll never know.
Happy Halloween! Hee Haw Hee Haw.
Apple Orchard Management have asked me to say they don’t recommend eating toadstools without proper knowledge of what you are eating. Nor do they condone ‘borrowing’ boats or canoeing on rivers without supervision, especially if you are a donkey!!
Special thanks goes to Maisie Mclellan for drawing our amazing adventures this weekend! We donkeys are good at typing but no good at drawing!
