About the Author

Elaine Watkins was born in Yorkshire and now lives in

Wales. She has been writing stories and poetry for
about eight years. She is married with two sons and
seven grandchildren.









Dedication


I would like to dedicate this book to my seven
grandchildren, Holly, James, Lara, Caden, Daniel,
Samuel, and Eden.







B I L L Y B O B B I N A T
M Y S T E R Y F A R M




























Copyright Elaine Watkins

The right of Elaine Watkins to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims
for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British
Library.


ISBN 978 184963 823 4


www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2014)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LB








Printed and bound in Great Britain



Contents


Billy Bobbin and Midge 9
Billy and the Visitor 15
Barney Comes Home 20
The Mystery in the Attic 29
The School Trip 36
Billys New Friend 40
A Birthday to Remember 45
The Travellers in the Wood 50




Billy Bobbin and Midge


Billy Bobbin was just an ordinary boy living at
Mystery Farm with his parents, older brother Barney
and younger sister Beverley. The farm had been taken
over by Billys dad when his granddad had retired.
Billy loved living at the farm and looking after the
sheep and cattle, and loved the lambs when they were
born in the spring.
His brother Barney was seventeen, seven years
older than Billy, and Beverley was nine. As soon as
Barney was old enough he had left school and gone
away to university. He was a bright boy, always
working hard and he always had his head in a book.
Barney wasnt going to get his hands dirty working on
the farm, he wanted to be a doctor or a vet and wished
to study medicine.
Billy missed Barney being around. They always
had a good laugh together. He still had his sister
Beverley, but it just wasnt the same playing with a
girl, although most of the time they got on quite well.
Beverley could be a nice little girl when she wanted to
be a bit of a tomboy, always hanging around with the
boys.

Billy always dreamed of being a farmer like his dad
and granddad. He loved it on the farm summer or
winter he would go out and help his dad. They even
had a few hens and Billys job every morning before
school was to feed them and clean the barn.
It was a lovely sunny day and there was no school
because it was Sunday. Billy thought he might walk
his pet dog Midge across the fields.
We could both do with some exercise, Billy told
Midge.
Down the lane they went, over the stile into the
fields. All of the fields around belonged to Mystery
Farm. Billys dad was in the next field with the tractor.
Midge had run over to the hedge that led to the next
field.
Wait for me, Billy shouted.
Before he knew it Midge had gone through a hole
in the hedge. Billys dad stopped the tractor because he
didnt want to run Midge over.
Youll have to call Midge back through the
hedge, Billys dad shouted.
Midge was a brown and white Jack Russell Terrier
and he was very mischievous. As Billy called Midge
back through the hedge, Midge got stuck halfway
through.
Come on boy, shouted Billy.
Billys dad got out of the tractor again to help push
Midge back through, when he noticed something

shining across Midges neck. It was stopping him from
getting back through.
Its a gold chain, Billy said to his dad. Perhaps
someone has dropped it here at some point.
Billys dad climbed back onto the tractor and
started it up again, and off he drove down the field.
Midge had dug a small hole by the hedge.
Come on boy, lets go to the woods, said Billy,
but there was no budging Midge.
He kept on digging. Billy bent down to where
Midge was digging his hole and was shocked to see
how far he had dug down. It must have been a foot
deep because Midge was disappearing into it.
Billy managed to pull Midge out at last, and as he
looked into the hole, he noticed something else was
shining. He put his arm down into the hole and pulled
out something covered in mud. It looked like a medal.
He began to clean the mud off.
It looks like a war medal, said Billy.
Midge began to bark; he wanted to carry on with
his walk.
OK boy, Im coming, said Billy. He covered up
the hole with some sticks that were lying by the hedge.
Ill come back later when I take you back home.
He slipped the chain and the medal into his pocket
and carried on his walk to the woods with Midge.
Later, after he had taken Midge back home, Billy
went back to the field where the hole was by the

hedge. He uncovered it and moved some more soil. He
found a large tin box that was rusty and it was partly
open. Billy pulled it out of the hole and opened it.
Inside there were more objects.
This is exciting, he thought. There were some silver
coloured coat buttons, a watch, a newspaper, a lock of
auburn hair and an old photograph of a man and
woman. I wonder who they are and if all these things
belong to them, thought Billy. It looks as though
theyve put a time capsule together. He remembered a
lesson in school that hed had about people burying
time capsules.
Billy gathered everything together and placed them
all back into the tin and set off back across the fields to
go home, where he went up to his bedroom to have a
closer look at everything. He opened up the
newspaper, the date on it read: August 3
rd
1917.
That means the tin has been in the ground since
that date, said Billy. It must have been when my
great granddad was young.
There were lots of interesting pieces to read in the
newspaper, including an article about a man who had
been called up to serve in the army in 1914. It was
Christmas time and it said that he lived at Mystery
Farm.
How strange, I must go and ask granddad, said
Billy.
Billys granddad lived in a cottage down the lane
from Mystery Farm. Hed lived there since hed retired
from farming. Billy collected everything together and