The Outsider

When the Romney Marsh people come to stay with the Punchbowl Farm people it makes quite a crowd at the farm. But it means also a great deal of fun for everyone. The Thornton parents have gone to France for a holiday so Andrea is virtually in charge, but Meryon and Dion and Tamzin and Lindsey are excellent at coping in crises. And the main crisis arises when Roger discovers that a wild deer has somehow found its way into the Punchbowl herd. They know they must catch her but it is not easy to capture a wild and very fast moving animal. Help there is in plenty, some of it unwanted, especially from those who offer to shoot the deer for them. But Meryon in the end proves his prowess at rope-throwing to Tamzin's delight. Naturally with so many young people together in one house a certain amount of friction develops at times but Andrea eventually realises that nothing can come between Tamzin and Meryon.