Falmouth Manor was suddenly quite the hive of activity. Everywhere you looked people were at work, preparing different things and getting tables and chairs set up.
Misty was very confused. "What's going on?" she asked Pipp.
Pipp glanced over. "Huh? Sorry, didn't catch that."
"I asked what's going on?" Misty asked.
"Oh!" Pipp exclaimed. "Uncle Will's coming to visit, and we're rolling out the red carpet for him!" She looked at her phone screen. "I hope he likes what we've got cooked for tonight, as I imagine weeks on the barracks will have left him wanting a proper meal."
Zipp then appeared. "They do have proper kitchens on army bases. Soldiers don't eat ration packs all the time. Besides, he is an officer, so will probably get better food than most soldiers."
"I would't last a second in that sort of place," Pipp said. "All the drab colours and marching about- it's enough to make a creative person's head spin!"
Zipp looked out of the window. "The garden kinda looks sloppy. Not sure what he'd think of it being in that state."
Just then, Pipp seemingly had an idea. "What if we did up the garden for Uncle Will's visit? I imagine he'd love to see it redone and in a new style!"
Zipp looked over. "Oh no."
Pipp shrugged her shoulders. "Come on. It's just some gardening. How hard can it be?"
"You sure nobody knows about this?" Zipp asked.
"Nope!" Pipp replied. "Just you, me, and our friends. So, has anybody got any ideas as to how we'll redo the garden?"
"Can I just say now I know very little about gardening," Sunny said.
"Why is that?" Misty asked.
"I live next to a lighthouse! There's not enough space for a garden!"
"True that," Izzy said. "I don't have a garden either, to be honest."
"I know a bit," Hitch said. "I asked Grandma if she could help."
"Could she?"
"No. She's playing bowls today, as is her custom."
"We're in luck then!" Zipp said. "So was Drake!"
"Who's Drake?" Misty asked.
"I'll explain later," Zipp replied. "Anyway, anybody got any ideas?"
Pipp looked about. "I think we could have a water feature, and some plants as well."
"Why not a river of gravel?"
"Why?" Hitch asked.
"Because," Sunny replied, "it requires less maintenance than actual water. And we've got plenty of ballast we can use- they've been storing ballast from the realignment of Aller Junction in the sidings near Truro."
"Not really convinced that's what it's meant for, Sunny," Hitch replied.
"Dad said that all gardens need sheds," Misty said. "Why don't we put one in?"
"That's not a bad idea, actually," Pipp smiled. "I'll add it to the list!"
"If we're putting a water feature in, how will we lay the pipework?" Izzy asked.
"Easy," Pipp smiled. "We bring in a digger and dig a trench for the pipe to run through. We then cover it back up!"
"We could always borrow the Network Rail digger from the construction train," Sunny suggested. "It's not like it's being used."
"How do I always get roped into these things?" Hitch complained.
With their tasks decided, they went their separate ways. Sunny took Salty up to Truro to collect some ballast and a digger, whilst Pipp got to work figuring out the lines for the trench for the water pipes. Zipp, on the other hand, had gone to look for a shed. But at Truro she was greeted by a strange sight.
"Err, what is this?" she asked.
"A shed, as requested," said the engine.
"I meant a garden shed, not a Class 66!"
Luckily, the confusion was soon cleared up, and a garden shed was loaded in flatpack form into a van. They even got some flowers as part of the deal, which was quite a nice surprise.
They were soon on their way back down the line to Falmouth Manor, where some work had already begun on the water feature. Large numbers of pipes had been lined up, only needing to be joined together by many hands.
"How are we going to get water into them?" Misty asked.
"By connecting them to the water supply!" Pipp replied. "I've got this all figured out!"
Hitch, on the other hand, was using his quadbike to drag the pipe sections around. "I'd forgotten I had this!" he said. "It would be very handy in other situations!"
"Yeah, I'd been wondering where that had gotten to," Izzy admitted.
Sure enough, Sunny got to emptying the gravel out of the hoppers- and onto the floor.
"Sunny, we're supposed to tip that into the channels after they've been dug!" Pipp pointed out.
"Oops," Sunny said. "Well, can somebody help me clean this up?"
Luckily, unloading the shed and the plants proved to be easier, and the plants were soon dotted around the garden in plant pots.
Finally, the ramp was dropped, and the digger was unloaded. Sunny was put in charge of this, and drove it over to where the dig marks began, leaving track marks all over the garden.
"How will you know where to dig?" Zipp said. "You've driven over the markings!"
"I'll work backwards," Sunny replied, and stopped the machine where the work was meant to begin.
Whilst Sunny was busy ripping up the landscape, Zipp was working on the shed. Very slowly, as it turned out. "Right, we've got one end, we've got the screws, we've got the other parts-"
"What's taking so long?" Pipp asked.
"I need to ensure all the parts are in the right place before I start building," Zipp replied. "If I get the bits mixed up I'll have to take it apart and start again, which will waste everybody's time."
"We are working against the clock here," Pipp pointed out.
"So don't rush me. Rushing means you make mistakes," Zipp answered.
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crash, and they looked over to see the digger on its side in the ditch.
"What on Earth?" Zipp asked, and they both ran over and pulled the door open.
"What happened, Sunny?" Pipp asked.
"I put it in forward gear by mistake," Sunny replied. "Now how are we going to get it out?"
"More importantly, how are we going to get it back to Truro without anybody noticing?" Zipp asked.
"Hitch? Could you help us pull the digger out?" Pipp asked.
He did, but this wasted valuable time. The mess made was quite bad, and they had to work even quicker to get the hole filled, as the trench was now useless. Instead, Pipp had the bright idea of running the pipes along the surface and connecting it to the swimming pool.
Proceedings were then interrupted with Hitch falling off his quadbike and hitting the ground. "Ow!" he said, as he sat up. "Where's a pile of conveniently placed mattresses when you need them?"
The whole situation was, put simply, a mess. The water feature had arrived, and had been connected to the pipes and was ready to dispense water.
And the shed had been built, which was an achievement.
Sunny then returned with Salty, ready to load the digger (which was still in the hole somehow). "Come on! We have to clean this up before they get back!"
"You needn't bother."
The assembled group turned around to see that Lady Haven and William were standing there. And Lady Haven did not look hugely impressed.
"Would somebody care to explain why the garden is in such a mess?"
Zipp tapped Pipp. "Not such a good idea, was it?"
Pipp walked over slowly. "I had the idea of redoing the garden for Uncle Will's arrival. I had something grander in mind than what I could achieve. I guess I bit off more than I could chew."
William looked at the scene. "It's rather avant-garde," he said. "Still life with enormous trench and crashed digger. And whatever that is over there."
"It's the old water feature from Purbeck House," Zipp pointed out. "It was going to be the centrepiece."
Lady Haven sighed. "Whilst I appreciate the gesture, you should have asked permission first. Speaking from experience, it's always best to get the views of others before committing to a project." She looked at the plan. "There's virtually no chance you could have pulled this off with your resources. Now then, I'm going to get changed. And then we shall clean all of this up."
Cleaning the garden up took hours. The gravel was used to fill the trench, and the pipes were dismantled and put back into storage. The water feature saw the same fate, and the digger was conveyed back up to Truro- with the fuel tank refilled, no less.
Once the mess was cleared, work on the true festivities could commence. As the collected Havens gathered around the table in all their finery, Lady Haven had the following word of wisdom to impart. "Fancy displays and elaborate gardens may well be fine and good, but ultimately they do not make a house a home."
After that day's chaos, everybody was glad to agree.