upon a time, many years ago, a boy named Georgie Pegg and his family went for a picnic in the Middle England, known as Alton, Staffordshire. After travelling for a long time, the family found the outskirts of a forest. The sun shone through the trees and the birds sang merrily high up in the tree tops. Once the family had eaten, they began to walk through the forest, enjoying the sunshine and the woodland around them. The boy was looking up into the trees as he walked, trying to spot the squirrels that he knew where hiding amongst the branches. Suddenly, Georgie realised he was alone.... he had lost his family somewhere along the forest path.

Feeling slightly scared, he started to run along the path. Poor Georgie didn’t know where his family had gone and it would soon be dark. After a while he began to feel hot and tired so he stopped in front of a large oak tree by the side of the path. The oak tree was the biggest the boy had ever seen, it seemed to stretch up into the sky, the branches piercing the the clouds above, green leaves spreading like an umbrella over the woodland. Georgie slumped down by the tree roots to shelter from the sun rays and before he realised it, he had fallen asleep.

He awoke with a start when he felt a nudge in his ribs. Georgie looked down to see a small, spindly creature in rags, poking his side with a knobbly finger. The boy looked at the creature in disbelief. It look like the kind of goblin or hobbit that he had read about in fairy tales. But they were just stories - weren’t they? The creature was pointing down the path, grinning from pointy ear to pointy ear. Georgie looked over to the path and gasped in surprise. There was a trail of acorns leading back the way he’d come. Somehow, he sensed the creature was trying to help him, so he got up, dusted himself down and began to follow the trail of acorns, waving good bye to the creature as he walked.

A few moments later, Georgie could see his family in the distance. He ran over to them and they hugged him in relief, pleased to see him back at last. The boy explained to the family what had happened, but he could see they did not believe him, so he turned and pointed to the trail of acorns, but they had disappeared!! As they began the journey home, the boy could feel something in his jacket pocket. He was surprised to find an acorn nestled in amongst the tissues. He knew it was a little keepsake from his new friend. Georgie wished he could repay the favour, but vowed that one day, he would find a way to show everyone what he had seen that day. You never know, maybe one day, someone else would see the creatures he named ‘Hoblins’!