Welcome to Story Quest, a weekly podcast where we bring your stories to life!
In this episode we bring Harriet’s story – The Mysterious Camping Trip – to life.
It’s all about a boy called George who goes on a camping trip with his family. He thought it was going to be boring but when a mysterious Victorian farmer appears things start to get the opposite of boring.
If you have a story idea, you could be like Harriet and have it turned into a Story Quest. All you have to do is send us your story idea here. We know you have the best imaginations and together we can create the most brilliant stories!
That’s just what Harriet did. You can watch the story she suggested come to life below, plus she tells us all about the inspiration behind the story at the end.
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Stories for kids and families from Fun Kids – the UK’s children’s radio station. Perfect for all ages – listen in the car, when chilling at home and before bedtimes.
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Read along to The Mysterious Camping Trip
You can read along to the story while you listen. Just follow the text below. Don’t worry if you find a word tricky – you can pause the video whenever to give yourself more time.
George was annoyed. It was the summer holidays and his mum and dad had just announced what the family holiday would be. George was hoping that maybe just for once they might end up on a sunny beach in Spain, or going to one of the enormous theme parks like DisneyWorld, or even going skiing on a snowy mountain – but no. It was not to be. It was something much much worse.
CAMPING.
He should have known. Mum and Dad LOVED camping.
Now YOU might like camping but George did not. It seemed to be the most boring kind of holiday there ever was – sleeping on an uncomfortable mat in a tent filled with mosquitos, baking hot in the sun or soaking wet in the rain with nothing to do but peer out of the flap.
The only slightly interesting thing about this years trip was to somewhere new – a place called Fey Hollows which mum said had one of the oldest oak trees in the country. George couldn’t get excited about seeing a really old tree and so stayed annoyed and wasn’t looking forward to the trip at all.
Mum told him off and pointed out that they were lucky to have a holiday at all but it didn’t cheer George up much. He just really didn’t like camping.
It was a impossibly long car journey and so George decided to go to sleep – it seemed like only a minute had passed when Mum woke him up – they’d arrived.
Driving into the field signposted Fey Hollows they were greeted by a very old man, who was wearing rather strange clothing – almost as if he was from Victorian Times. So that was a bit weird. He pointed to a very old tree, and told them they could pitch in it’s shade and then said in a stern voice,
“ There’s water in the well you can use, but those woods there are out of bounds.”
A WELL? Thought George – why no taps? Mum and Dad didn’t seem bothered by this but George felt like it was just another thing that was going to be annoying. And why couldn’t they go into the woods at the edge of the field?
“Them that live there don’t like being bothered by folk” said the old man and then tipping his cap he left them to unpack. George wondered who on earth lived in a wood.
The next strange thing to happen was that things – well – just kept going missing.
“Have you seen the tent pole?” said Dad – “I’m sure I left it here!”
“It’s on the roof of the car!” said mum – what on earth is it doing there?
George could have sworn he heard a giggle but there was no one to be seen.
“Where’s my phone charger?” said George – I left it in the car?”
It turned up, draped over the branch of the oak tree! Again George thought he could hear a giggle but looking around there was no one to be seen. In fact, weirdly there were no other campers at all… their tent was all alone, under the old oak tree by the side of the forbidden wood.
It was evening and Mum and Dad had gone to see if they could get water from the well (which looked at least a thousand years old) it was at the end of the field but George had decided to stay behind. After all his mobile phone had charged up now he’d found the cable and he’d downloaded a cool new game and wanted to be left in peace. He was distracted by a twinkle and a flare.
He looked towards the forbidden wood and was surprised to see that there were flickering lights dancing back through the trees. Someone had a bonfire by the look of it. He remembered what the farmer had said but couldn’t resist to take a closer look. Putting his mobile phone inside his pocket he quietly moved to the thicket at the edge – he could just about see a massive fire and around it shadowy figures were moving – dancing and he could just about hear some kind of song – or rather a chant. He found himself tiptoeing closer through the trees – but it seemed impossible to get a clear look – all of a sudden there was a CRACK! He’d trodden on a branch and the noise made the strange ghostly beings turn towards him – and ghosts they were!
As one they swooped towards George who began to run and run and RUN!
“Come baaaaack!” They hissed – “We only want to play!”
He ran out of the woods directly into the Farmer – still in those old fashioned clothes and carrying a candle lamp.
“What did I say?” he shouted. “I told you to stay out of them woods!”
“What… what ARE they?”
“TROUBLE is what they are that’s what! They’re the Fey! Mischeivous folk – playing tricks and pulling humans into their realm – I should know.”
“What do you mean?” said George, shaking with fear.
“They captured me two hundred years ago – my spirit must never leave the field – you were lucky to escape! Now see you stay clear of those woods”
George shivered and was relieved to see Mum and Dad were on their way back from the well – but something wasn’t quite right – they seemed to be shadowy and a mist was billowing around them – they were floating and looked different – It seemed that Mum and Dad were now ghosts too! He screamed and began to run but they were quicker than him and flew towards him with ghostly cries “Come baaaaack!” they hissed – “We only want to play!” – they were getting closer and closer and George shut his eyes in terror….
And then there was a whoosh!!! And George woke up. He was back in the car.
“Wake up sleepy head!” said Dad “We’ve arrived!
George rubbed his eyes in astonishment. He could see a field full of tents and a modern looking sign saying “Fey Hollows – Family Campsite”. There was no strange Victorian farmer, no spooky woods and as far as he could tell no mischievous ghostly folk ready to play. It must have been a dream.
He smiled in relief and felt happy and actually left his phone in the car to help mum and dad unpack everything.
Well you’ve cheered up! Said Mum. I thought you said camping was BOOO-RING!”
George had had enough excitement to last him a life time and he thought even a boring holiday was better than being dragged into a supernatural realm and forced to be a spirit.
And if his mobile phone strangely seemed to disappear from the car, and appear in mum’s handbag, well George was too busy to notice – with an adventure playground, sweet shop and a swimming pool this camping trip was turning out to be pretty good after all!
Do you have a story you want to hear made into a Story Quest?
We’d love to hear from you, submit your idea here and maybe we’ll be hearing you on Story Quest soon.
