All right, Elaine will lead the story and it will open with a discussion on a dinner party for the inspecting colonel. If there are too many names on the first few pages it will be confusing but I think I can get round that by having Elaine talk to the people who are on the buest list. I just have to be careful she doesn't repeat herself as she talks to each invitee about the reason for the dinner party. It could be a way to show different aspects of the need for the sergeant and his wife to become permanent housekeepers. I'd imagined a big party but in order to avoid too many names it will
l be better to limit the guest list but the doctor must be there and maybe pippa the craft girl.
It still amazes me that this wall hanging is made from nothing more than flour and water, painted and varnished, of course, but still flour and water.

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Oakhaven has a vague story line but it has no village character who will dominate. The story really is about the village and how it reacts to new houses and the rehabilitating soldier families. I had thought of having the sergeant and his wife, who will be in charge of the manor house as the main people but they are not the village. The one person who will be involved in everything in some way is Elaine, nee Jackson, now Colonel Cunninghame's wife. It is her cottage that the builders will use and build on, it is her old mansion that she and the colonel will renovate and it is her husband's manor house. In Ducks, Elaine took a bit of a back seat but she must now come out of her comfort zone and face certain challenges, including Mrs Boniface's interference. I like this better. It has a heroine.
The picture is how I imagine the back entrance to the manor house would have looked. It is now in disrepair and will need attention but could become flats

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Oakhaven entrance

I always like to have a clear picture of what I'm describing. Nothing is better than a picture and this is what I imagine the entrance to the Oakhaven manor house would be like. When Mrs Boniface was walking up the drive for a visit and had to jump in a rather unladylike manor to avoid being splashed by the man from conservation there were puddles on the drive but they have cleared up for the photograph.

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Flour and water

I mentioned I had seen some wall hangings that could fit in with pippa working in Oakhaven but didn't have the pictures. Luckily the lady who does them brought them to the market on Friday and I was able to get some images. They are made with flour paste but the paste mst be thick to make suck intricate models.

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Just as I'm thinking I must go with what I've got , something turns up. I was at the local Country Market with the two paperbacks when I noticed some small wall plaques and asked how they were made. It turns out the lady mixes flour and water into a paste. models it, puts the 'model' into the oven at about 100 degrees F and lets them dry. She then paints them and coats them with varnish, or the other way round but they looked great! Just the kind of thing for Pippa to teach the soldiers families, messy but fun. In this dull weather, I thought a nice sunny picture would be nice.

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The poetry readings are new and it is always a temptation to strive for another new experience for the inhabitants but there are things in past books that can be developed. The pony trekking might be one that could be expanded but how? We've had lost boys, a storm and finding a portable shepherd's hut. Unless there is a rodeo it is hard to see what is left. There are ducks and chickens that might be infected with bird flu'. Maybe there is mileage in restoring the old mill . It could be used as therapy for some of the families. I mustn't forget that young Godolphin is a passable artist. Could he paint Mrs Boniface's portrait? What will it look like? Modern art maybe?   

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colonels-Ducks-Oakhaven-Best-Plans-ebook/dp/B00XPHOMAE/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452518897&sr=1-6

Poetry readings

Oakhaven is a village with little nooks all over, which give it places to explore for newcomers like the children of the soldiers. It also provides places for budding poets to contemplate and be encouraged by Mrs Boniface. We can have a kind of poetry reading by locals and people from the soldiers families. Some of the poetry will be unintelligible, either due to the soldiers mental condition or just people trying to be literary. It could be held in the community hall and be catered by Spook's daughter and young Godolphin, who is becoming a decent chef.

www.sullatoberdalton.com/books/welcome-oakhaven

The first, trial batch of soldiers included a sniper but he was only partly recovered when the story ended and he will still be around. The new batch will be husbands and wives and some children. The families will be mostly young, up to ten or twelve and going to school and this will cause disruption among the locals. Maybe we can organise some kind of show or play to get them together. Naturally there will be a bully but one that sucks up to Mrs Boniface, which will add to the problem of sorting it out.

www.sullatoberdalton.com/books/welcome-oakhaven

We've had floods and unexploded bombs in Oakhaven but there must be something we can introduce to give focus and give Mrs Boniface something to champion. The new houses will take up some of her attention but they will take mabe a year to start to fill with people. Maybe one or more of the soldiers could come with an infection that starts an epidemic in the village. Nothing too serious, something the doctors is under pressure over but will cope with but which Mrs Boniface exaggerate out of proportion. It will need researching but so do most things that are worth while.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Oakhaven-Mrs-Jackson-Settles-ebook/dp/B00LUNMD24/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406736695&sr=1-1&keywords=sullatober+dalton

Renovations designs

All right, the subjects, or at least some of them, for discussion at the dinner party have been set out in general terms. Further down the line the renovation of Bramble House will have to be addressed. It has a sloping garden behind it, which has been terraced and in which they found a rare orchid, which Mrs Boniface at first declared to be no more than some kind of crocus. Inside there was a roman mosaic and that could be moved, if it can be moved to the entrance hall and set in the wall as a feature. The stair has rotted long ago, as have the window frames and the roof trusses. First it will have to be made watertight as any of the Grand Designs programmes will tell you. Elaine's son-in-law is and architect and can be consulted but there are many others who want to dictate how the renovations should be done. not only the renovations but the garden as well. Mrs Boniface will be horrified if  Pippa is allowed to have more say than herself and particularly concerned in case an ugly and garish sign board is put up announcing the place to be a B&B and encourage the rougher sort of tourists with caravans to stop over.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Welcome-Oakhaven-Mrs-Jackson-Settles-ebook/dp/B00LUNMD24/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406736695&sr=1-1&keywords=sullatober+dalton