I headed to the back of the room and found a man and woman working at different steel tanks, a thick hose running between them, connected at the base of the tanks with large chrome valves. The man, roughly my age, was crouching crablike, elbows resting on knees. He had long dark hair tied in a ponytail and huge biceps bulging from a faded black T-shirt. The woman had shoulder-length, highlighted hair with a heavy fringe, a wrist full of tinkly silver bangles and wore a long apron over a coral shirt and tight cropped jeans.

I coughed gently so as not to make them jump and the man looked up.

I waved. ‘Hi, are you Matt?’

‘The one and only.’ He grinned, getting up from his crouched position. He was tall and broad and looked somewhere between a pirate and one of those American wrestlers with comedy names like Warrior and Crusher. ‘Wait up, Clare, we’ve got company.’

The woman dried her hands on her apron and clasped them together in prayer. ‘Please say you’re Lottie?’

I nodded.

‘Yes!’ She punched the air.

‘Pleased to meet you both.’ I smiled back, delighted to get such a warm welcome. Even though Pippa had insisted that no one else wanted to take on the top job, I was still half-expecting to meet resistance from someone. It didn’t look like it would be Clare.

Her Adidas trainers squeaked on the floor as she scurried over, smiling broadly to reveal a gap in her front teeth. I stuck my hand out for a handshake and she took it in both of hers and squeezed gently, finally releasing it with an affectionate pat.

‘We are so thrilled that Betsy agreed to employ someone. What a bloody relief!’ she said, pretending to mop her brow. ‘Now we can get motoring again.’

She had perfect nails, I noticed, and they were painted the exact same shade as her shirt. How did people manage such casual coordination? I thought I was doing well if I put red nail polish on at Christmas. And by Boxing Day most of it was chipped off.

‘Hope you don’t mind me interrupting but I’ve come for a lesson in winemaking, if that’s okay?’

Matt loomed over me and took my hand next, pumping it up and down in his big hands. ‘If only we had someone who knew what they were doing, eh, Clare?’

‘You tease.’ She punched his arm. ‘Ignore him, honey. We’ll happily show you around.’