After 17 years away in the city, a man (David Gilpin) returns to the village at the request of his cousin, Jenny (Maggie Green) who has taken over the family farmhouse – his childhood home, Foxhollies Farm near Bennetts Wood – with her husband Bill (Steve Tomlin). She is seemingly disturbed by something, but as he travels in the train his memory goes back to 20 years ago when he was a teenager and of what he encountered in the woods...
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00:00♪♪
00:10♪♪
00:20♪♪
00:32The dark green of a Cornish valley felt remote,
00:35even mysterious, after the constant grind of urban living.
00:40Of course, I'd had the best of both worlds,
00:43a rural upbringing and more than the taste of city life.
00:47Now I had the chance of picking up the threads of a country life
00:50from where I'd left them 17 years ago.
00:54♪♪
01:05I hadn't seen my cousin Jenny for years.
01:08We're not a close family and, quite frankly,
01:11I was beginning to believe that we'd drifted out of touch.
01:14Quite suddenly, there was this letter.
01:17Its contents were unstructured and faintly hysterical,
01:20and had it been from anyone else, I might well have ignored it.
01:24But you can't ignore a cry for help from your only living relative, can you?
01:29♪♪
01:38Although it was difficult to read,
01:40here and there a line came through with a horrifying sense of familiarity.
01:45Was it something I'd imagined, a childhood fancy,
01:48or had Jenny touched by chance on some strange event from my family's past?
01:55My mind leaped a chasm in time and space.
02:00BIRDS CHIRP
02:10Must be 20 years now since I last slept in my bedroom at Fox Holly's Farm.
02:15I suppose I would have been about 15 at the time,
02:19and rapidly gaining some confidence
02:21as I waited the last few months before technical college.
02:25One particular spring morning, I awoke with a special feeling of excitement.
02:30Usually, farming folk rise early, but this morning was different.
02:34The sun was bright at 5 o'clock, and below me the house lay silent.
02:39The evening before, it'd been Mother's birthday treat,
02:41a rare visit to the cinema, and my parents slept on.
02:46Was it still there, my guilty secret?
02:50Foolish, I'd checked a thousand times in the past few days,
02:53and it was always there, undiscovered by Mother.
03:10It was an old 12-bore shotgun.
03:13It had lain beneath a shelf in the outhouse disregarded by my father.
03:17He'd refused to let me use his gun,
03:19so I'd painstakingly restored this one.
03:22This was to be the day of the first firing.
03:39I was answering a challenge within myself,
03:42and having made the decision, there was no turning back.
03:50But the boldness of my action still worried me,
03:53and at least once in every waking hour,
03:56I questioned the wisdom of what I was doing.
04:20Well out of sight of the house, I began to relax a little.
04:24I was still fearful of discovery,
04:27but I would have been even more fearful
04:30had I the remotest idea of what lay in store.
04:50My first objective was the stone wall on the far side of the meadow.
04:57Once there, I felt secure behind my temporary shelter.
05:01I was well away from the house,
05:03and the falling ground should help mask the sound of a 12-bore.
05:07I had savoured this moment,
05:10the moment of the first shot, for a long time.
05:13Yet now it was actually here,
05:16I felt a distinct reluctance creeping over me.
05:20It was a bit like saving the best bit of a meal till last.
05:24All I needed now was a target.
05:47Most country folk have an affinity with wildlife.
05:51It's a bit like someone is trusting you,
05:54that you have some kind of responsibility to the countryside.
06:04A flash of guilt overcame me as I tried the catch.
06:08What was it my father had said about handling firearms?
06:12Treat it with respect.
06:15Never, never point a gun at anybody.
06:18I examined the 2 brick-red cartridges
06:21I'd swapped for a fountain pen at school.
06:24One had traces of corrosion on the brass percussion cap
06:28which I'd tried to remove on the rough material of my jacket.
06:43My pulse quickened with anticipation.
06:46In my hands was the power over life and death,
06:50and I couldn't wait to use it.
06:59I decided to try my luck over the next hill.
07:03Surely a rabbit would prove an easy target.
07:08My eye was caught by movement on a nearby gate.
07:12It was my father's guinea fowl.
07:15Odd, they usually ran with the sheep.
07:18A distant gull coursed across the sky.
07:21I practiced my aim and found it sadly lacking.
07:28I hurried on in search of an easier quarry.
07:37I'd seen dead sheep before, of course,
07:40but this one was different.
07:46I considered the possibilities.
07:49I knew all the stories about dogs worrying sheep,
07:52and I could imagine my father's anger when he heard about this one.
07:56Perhaps I'd find the culprit myself.
08:08I hesitated as I came to the path through Bennett's Wood,
08:12a dark, mysterious place I rarely visited.
08:15But the Twelve Boar felt comforting,
08:18and I pressed on with a feeling of security.
08:21I kept to the open path.
08:24The trees seemed tall and threatening.
08:29Once or twice I thought I heard scratching noises in the hedgerow.
08:37Then I became aware of another sound,
08:40an open, hollow noise like escaping gas.
09:07It was a strange noise.
09:10It seemed to be coming from the other side of the wood.
09:14It was a strange noise.
09:17It seemed to be coming from the other side of the wood.
09:20It was a strange noise.
09:23It seemed to be coming from the other side of the wood.
09:26It was a strange noise.
09:29It seemed to be coming from the other side of the wood.
09:32It was a strange noise.
09:35It seemed to be coming from the other side of the wood.
09:44With some effort I put the fear aside and continued my walk.
09:59What happened next I've gone over in my mind a hundred times,
10:02trying to make some sense of it.
10:04But I swear this is the way it was.
10:07After a while the track petered out
10:10and the tall trees gave way to thicket.
10:13I'd drawn level with a clump of bushes.
10:16You know how you can tell without looking
10:19if someone enters a room behind you?
10:21There's a kind of shift in the atmosphere,
10:23like a door's been opened.
10:25Well, I knew there was something in that bush.
10:35I crept slowly through the dense undergrowth,
10:38trying to keep undercover all the while
10:41and straining to see a tell-tale movement.
10:55When it did come, I was far too slow.
10:58Frightened out of my wits,
11:01I pulled on the rusted picker.
11:04The cartridge failed to fire.
11:21What it was I was fighting, I had no idea,
11:24and to this day I'm far from certain.
11:27It was no animal.
11:29But then, neither was it human.
11:46Breathless, I paused to recover my senses.
11:50The thing, whatever it was,
11:52had crashed away into the woods behind me.
11:59My parents never believed me, of course.
12:02How could they?
12:04It was a child's fanciful story,
12:06a device to cover the truth.
12:24There've been times in recent years
12:26when I began to convince myself
12:28that it was all a dream.
12:30But now this letter from Jenny.
12:32She was to be here to meet me.
12:34I'll pick you up in the car, she said.
12:37But the platform was deserted.
12:40My father died in that terrible winter of 63,
12:43and for a while we brought a manager in.
12:46But you can't leave the running of your farm to strangers.
12:50So we sold the acreage to a neighbor
12:52and the house to a man from upcountry.
12:55He told her he didn't live there long.
12:57He sold it for less than he'd paid for it
12:59to join his sister in Torquay.
13:02That's something that retiring city dwellers never understand.
13:06They scan the teeming countryside
13:08convinced that it's an empty place.
13:11It takes a lifetime to find an affinity with solitude.
13:16What possessed my cousin to buy the place, I'll never know.
13:20It's far too isolated for a young couple.
13:24I recognized Jenny immediately
13:26and wondered vaguely why she was alone.
13:29She looked pale and agitated.
13:31Jenny.
13:33Nice to see you.
13:40She was very quiet,
13:42resisting my awkward attempts at conversation.
13:47I asked about Bill, but she refused to say anything.
13:53We drove for several miles,
13:56but instead of heading on to Fox Holly's farm,
14:00took the road to the local village.
14:03Not the farm, she said.
14:05Not there.
14:08No, thank you.
14:10It was the start of the holiday season,
14:12and the village was busy with tourists.
14:15It was obvious that Jenny
14:17barely needed an atmosphere of normality.
14:20I listened patiently, trying to seem sympathetic,
14:24then slowly, little by little,
14:26she began to speak to me.
14:29She said,
14:31I listened patiently, trying to seem sympathetic,
14:34then slowly, little by little,
14:37she told me her story.
14:39The past few weeks, she said,
14:41had seemed bizarre and unreal,
14:44yet what concerned her most
14:46was the patronizing disbelief of those around her.
14:49She had turned to the only person left.
14:52It was just possible that I would understand.
14:57The night they moved in,
14:59Jenny and Bill had thrown a housewarming party.
15:03I doubt the farm had seen it like before.
15:06It must have been 2 a.m. before the last guests departed.
15:10The couple were left with the usual mess
15:13of empty bottles and overflowing ashtrays.
15:16Thankful to end the ordeal,
15:18they surveyed the wasteland
15:20that spread through the kitchen and scullery.
15:23There was no way they could face that lot in the morning.
15:27They arranged their duties logically.
15:29She would attend to the washing up,
15:32whilst Bill stacked the pile of empty bottles into the cellar.
15:47It was a strange sound, a bit like escaping gas,
15:51but it wasn't continuous.
15:55Bill?
15:57More like someone breathing.
15:59Bill?
16:07Perhaps her husband was fooling around, trying to frighten her.
16:14Was that you?
16:21Something like that.
16:27Although Jenny loved the farm,
16:29there was one place she disliked.
16:31The piggery was at least 200 years old,
16:34and in days gone past,
16:36the farmer had conducted his own slaughter.
16:39The stone gully that collected the animal's blood still existed.
16:52Come here.
16:58No, there's another one here.
17:00We've got a good clutch there, haven't we?
17:02Bill had longed for free-range eggs.
17:04You couldn't live in a farmhouse, he said,
17:06without a proper farmhouse breakfast.
17:08The idea of keeping a few hens had sounded simple enough,
17:12but when it came down to it,
17:14nothing was as straightforward as it seemed.
17:17Bill was undaunted.
17:19It was simply a matter of seeking the right advice.
17:22Her husband was so practical, he could infuriate her at times.
17:32For a while, life continued normally,
17:35and Jenny had time to forget the incident on the night of the party.
17:39She sat about the kitchen garden,
17:41pleased that she too could be practical,
17:44when she put her mind to it.
17:49Then, quite suddenly, all her fears returned.
17:53A series of seemingly disconnected events
17:57plunged her into a state of nervous disbelief.
18:00There were the strange scratches on the outhouse door.
18:07And a cracked window pane.
18:09She was sure she hadn't noticed that before.
18:20Then there was the business of the cat's ear.
18:23Jenny had found him in the yard one morning, looking less than happy.
18:27She hadn't seen him for more than two days,
18:30and when he finally turned up, he was mangled and scarred.
18:33Bill had laughed. Cats fight all the time, you know.
18:37She supposed he was right.
18:40He'll soon have better.
18:46Again, she tried to dismiss the feelings from her mind,
18:50but the atmosphere was altogether different now.
18:53Doubts crept in, and no amount of reassurance from Bill
18:57would help dislodge them.
18:59Perhaps she was becoming neurotic,
19:02or at the very least, she was not suited to country life.
19:10Bill?
19:12Hmm?
19:14Can you remember the name of those people we met last week?
19:17She felt a vague sense of separation from Bill.
19:21They seemed to be growing apart,
19:23and secretly she wished for something tangible to happen
19:27and bring them together again.
19:35Bill?
19:37Bill?
19:40Could you go and take a look, please?
19:45It's only the wind.
19:47Please.
19:54He rose reluctantly with affected resignation.
19:59PHONE RINGS
20:05He felt he mishumoured her,
20:07although there was no way they could continue like this,
20:10starting at every innocent sound.
20:13PHONE RINGS
20:17PHONE RINGS
20:19PHONE RINGS
20:32Hello.
20:35MEOWS
20:37MEOWS
20:45One afternoon, Jenny returned from the village rather later than usual.
20:49TRAFFIC RUMBLES
21:04DOORBELL RINGS
21:10Immediately, she sensed a difference.
21:13The air was deathly still.
21:15There was no birdsong,
21:17no breath of wind,
21:19and, even more alarming, none of the familiar clucking from the chicken pen.
21:24DOORBELL RINGS
21:26Sorry, love, I've just delivered, you know.
21:29I've got some bad news. I think you'd better come and have a look at this.
21:33He'd just delivered the groceries
21:35when he'd heard a commotion coming from the pen.
21:38DOORBELL RINGS
21:40I'm not paying credit fee, but I brought you out here to have a look
21:43because you ought to know.
21:45Look, now, when you first look at it, you might think, oh, it's a fox,
21:48but if you also look at the way the wire's gone,
21:50now, no fox is going to rip apart a wire like that.
21:53And the other reason why it's not a fox
21:56is because a fox would have...
21:58Jenny found herself staring, dumbstruck,
22:01at a deep impression in the soil.
22:03Oh, Lord.
22:05DOORBELL RINGS
22:16That night she lay awake, afraid to sleep.
22:20A murmur of wind settled in the chimney breast.
22:24Was there something outside?
22:27Or was she imagining things again?
22:30This would never do.
22:32Perhaps she could read for a while.
22:39It was past two o'clock.
22:42It was past two o'clock.
22:44How much longer could she stay like this?
23:08No doubt of that.
23:10There really was something outside.
23:36There was no ignoring that.
23:39There was something or someone moving around outside,
23:43and Bill was determined to find out for himself.
24:09DOORBELL RINGS
24:39DOORBELL BUZZES
25:09DOORBELL BUZZES
25:40DOORBELL BUZZES
26:06DOORBELL BUZZES
26:09DOORBELL BUZZES
26:29DOORBELL BUZZES
26:31DOORBELL BUZZES
26:39Today the house is still up for sale despite a much reduced price. Bill's
26:53physical injuries were actually slight but he never recovered from the shock.
26:59The farm is quite deserted now. There hasn't been a soul to see it in six
27:05months. I suppose these stories get around and people are reluctant to take
27:10on anything that has that kind of doubtful connection. I'd certainly never
27:15live there again. Mind you it's a warning to us all. A survey can't always reveal
27:23the truth about any house. So if you're looking for a place in the West Country
27:30remember this one.