Hello, Ludo here.

That’s the somewhat strange news: we’re going on holiday. I mean, we went on holiday the week before Victor and Pippin arrived. We’ve been here nearly two years and never had a holiday until two came along in four months.

It may be Locksley’s fault. He went to see Dr Rebekah last week and she agreed with Mummy that this hair loss might be due to stress. And we all blame the builders next door for that. They make a lot of noise. At least Mummy can go out, like she did this week, so she missed a lot of it. We have to put up with it all the time.

I hide in my fiddlesticks or under the hay and just endure. That’s what I’m good at. I had a lot of enduring to do before I went to the rescue. But I don’t think Mummy’s planning on sending me to a rescue. She said the other day, I was hers for life, and I just had to put up with her. I was a bit grumpy that day, so maybe it’s her way of reassuring me.

I’m not feeling so grumpy today. First, I am reassured that I am Mummy’s and she’s not letting me go. Second, the builders weren’t working on Friday (even though Mummy was out all day), or Saturday, or Sunday, and so far, so good, today. Mummy says it’s a bank holiday weekend, and maybe they took Friday off because they’d been working so hard. Especially through all that hot weather. Or maybe something hasn’t arrived yet so they can’t work on it.

But apparently we’ve got another two months of building going on next door. I hate it. It’s so nerve-wracking. You never know when the next bang is going to happen, or when the banging or drilling or squealing of the screwdriver is going to stop.

Mummy hates it too. She started thinking of taking us away for a break, somewhere quiet, but she couldn’t find anywhere she wanted to go that was free until October. Then she thought of the cottage she used to visit with the other boys when they were planning on moving here. And apparently the lady there said yes, we could come next Monday. So we are. It’s a long drive, she said: 15 miles. That’s not even as far as the vet. I think Mummy’s teasing me.

Locksley and I are delighted, and very relieved. A whole week of quiet. I don’t think Victor and Pippin mind, either. They’ve not been in this house when it was quiet and peaceful, with no builders next door, but I think they prefer it.

Maybe Locksley and I won’t have to have the calming medicine on our food when we go on holiday. It’s okay, but food’s better without it.

We might blog on Tuesday next week, to show you our cottage.

Ludo.