My thanks to Marie for inviting me to judge and to Marney Wells who, as always, was a brilliant scribe. Every judge needs a Marney by their side! I’d also like to acknowledge all the work Marie had put in prior to the trial in making ‘the little barn’ such an interesting and challenging environment.

The weather forecast was appalling. Unfortunately on this occasion the weather forecast was correct and the first group of entrants had to endure heavy rain and gales. The weather was far kinder to the second group who stayed dry during their external search!

Internal 1.
3 hides (2 x Clove, 1 x GO)
This was the larger of the 2 barns. The area was busy with sofas, tables & chairs, chests etc in the room with boxes, air bricks, clothes hanging on a rail, shelving etc on the perimeter.
I placed one hide on a dog lead that was hanging on the wall near the entrance to the barn. The other 2 hides were both placed on a corner shelving unit, one on the bottom right side and the other knee height on the right side of the unit. The corner unit was diagonally opposite the entrance. Only one team, Pippa & Becky found both on the shelving unit. Other teams dismissed the corner as clear after finding one. No one declared the area clear and all teams worked to time.

External.
5 hides, 2 x TO, 2 x GO, 1 x clove
The external area was really interesting. Marie’s new shed made a nice corridor between its long side panel and the perimeter fencing. Marie had been on a property buying binge and had put out 4 of her new Wendy houses in the external area. There were also plant pots, metal troughs, table & chairs, bikes, ladders, and a lot of empty plastic bottles Marie had half hidden in fallen leaves.
2 hides were placed on the fencing along the ‘corridor’ by the new shed. No team found both these hides. All bar one team found a hide on the fence. Having found one on the
fence most teams avoided returning to that area of the search again. 1 hide was placed on a Wendy house window, an other on the underside of a garden chair and the last on a metal trough. No one called the area clear and all worked to full time.
Roger did a fantastic job of being white dog in what can only be described as horrendous weather! He got all 5 and the area called clear at 4mins 44 seconds. I’m sure Rogers all in one waterproof outfit helped him work through the wind and rain

Interior 2
4 hides, 1 x TO, 2 x GO, 1 x clove
This was in the smaller of the 2 barns. Whilst the search area had some furniture it was the least busy of the 3 tests.
2 hides were placed on a long cabinet, one on the front bottom corner, the other at the
back near the wall at knee height. One hide was placed in a crack in the wall at knee height and an other on the underside of a chair.
No one called this area clear and all worked to full time.

Decoys;
Internal 1, decoy placed on a dining room chair
External, decoy placed on a wooden bench
Internal 2, decoy placed on a bean bag chair
No one called a wrong alert on a decoy

Huge congratulations to Pippa & Becky who were the only team to qualify.