‘I’m done in,’ he shouted, his plump frame being buffeted by the wind as he approached. ‘Absolutely cream-crackered.’

I put Starsky down and kissed the old man’s cheek. ‘We’re all stopping now,’ I yelled back. ‘Would you mind letting Betsy know? Perhaps she and Marjorie could sort out some tea and biscuits.’

He nodded and patted his leg to attract Starsky’s attention. ‘Come on, fella, let’s go in.’

The two of them set off uphill and I headed across the top of the rows of vines to look for the others. I was halfway across the width of the vineyard when I heard an almighty cracking sound followed by a long creak and a crash.

I froze: my experience as a tree surgeon told me a tree was coming down. Someone shouted and then I heard the dog bark again.

I turned and retraced my steps, running as fast as I could to the edge of the vineyard, cursing my own forgetfulness. It was that third tree along; I could see the gap it had left already. How stupid of me not to have got it cut down before the storm came. It was an accident waiting to happen. Thank goodness Clare had already got through safely.

Still running, I rounded the edge of the row but Roger overtook me. The dead tree had gone straight down across the first two rows, taking the vines, posts and wires with it. Starsky was barking like mad, and trapped underneath the trunk, face down, was Godfrey.

My heart missed a beat and I surged forward, joining Roger as he dived to the ground. ‘Godfrey, are you all right, old chap, can you hear me?’

‘I’m fine,’ Godfrey wheezed. ‘I dropped my glove, bent down to pick it up and the next second, I’d been knocked over. Actually, my legs feel a bit sore.’

Roger and I exchanged a glance; they looked worse than ‘a bit sore’. Roger tried to lift the trunk but he couldn’t shift it.

‘Where is everybody?’ I cried. ‘We need help!’

‘Where’s your chainsaw?’ Dad shouted as he and Agnes ran towards us. ‘And ropes?’

‘Your van,’ I said, relieved. ‘It’s open.’

Dad jogged off and thankfully Starsky scampered after him out of harm’s way. Agnes knelt down beside Godfrey. ‘We will have this tree off you very quickly. Do not worry.’

Right on cue, just as I thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, the sky cracked with an ear-splitting roll of thunder, the heavens opened and the rain started. Within seconds it was torrential.

Godfrey was moaning with pain.

‘We need to call an ambulance,’ I said, trying to think straight. ‘But I left my phone inside the cottage.’

‘I don’t have one either. Hang on in there, old thing,’ Roger shouted.

‘I do not also.’ Agnes shook her head.