TPR was the jumping champion. He was the first person who had ever managed to leap from a standing start at the bottom of the pit on to the turf above. Everyone had said that it was impossible, yet my husband had done it and he was now the hero of the hour.

After all this excitement the farmer led us all back to the yard with a stop-off along the way to see the bull. Unexpectedly he invited us into the farm house.

“Oh, your wife must be a teacher” said SY when she spotted the work of school children in the kitchen.

The farmer was so absorbed in opening a chest in the middle of the floor that we thought he must have forgotten that we were there in the room too.

“Here’s our German treasure trove!” he proudly announced as he lifted the heavy chest lid to reveal its contents.

WB squealed with delighted at the heaped pile of gold chains, jewels, and Viking-style helmets.