On the smaller scale of Le Plein Soleil a lot could be done by taking simple measures. The property was divided and contained by walls that could be turned into dry-stone walls by removing the cement fillings, leaving nooks for lizards and salamanders and lichens. Hunter could join the Mediterranean ‘amphibian ark’ by creating a shady pond for frogs to breed in. A third of amphibians in the region were endangered, and worldwide the whole class of Amphibia was under threat from chytridiomycosis, a deadly set of fungal diseases with no known cure. To prevent the pond from becoming a stagnant nursery for mosquitoes, there could be fish that ate mosquito larvae while the tadpoles grazed the algae growing on the walls, and lily pads for the frogs to sit on when they were grown up, and a gentle flow of water that would eventually run into an orchard, irrigating trees to provide unsprayed fruit for Hunter’s household, as well as food and flowers for bees and wasps and caterpillars and birds. Amphibians were especially sensitive to chemicals in water and so he would suggest large storage tanks, hidden along the top of the slope, perhaps behind a new olive plantation, for collecting the winter rainwater and then releasing it slowly through the arid summer months. At the far end of the orchard there could be a few log hives and tree hives, not to harvest honey but for pollination and support for the beleaguered bee. Lavender, which would attract butterflies as well as bees, could replace the fertilised, heavily irrigated beds of gaudy, flimsy flowers. Maybe he could persuade Hunter to plant a small oak grove. Oaks supported over three hundred other species, many more than the palms and pines that currently dominated the property. Yes, an oak grove, perhaps beyond the orchard, among the wild beehives and a new herb garden of rosemary and thyme and basil and sage, and lemon verbena.

In the last tapering triangle of Hunter’s land, there was a whitewashed hexagonal pavilion, its arched windows edged with pale orange marble and an open doorway overlooking the sea. From the pavilion, two paths curved through the rock garden to the edge of the water, where a flight of steps led down to a private harbour, tucked out of view from the house. There was nothing growing on or immediately around the pavilion at the moment, which could easily have an orange-flowered trumpet vine encircling it, or evergreen ivy with dark berries to feed the birds in late winter and early spring; or honeysuckle, favoured by the amazing hummingbird hawk-moth. Two or three lime trees with their soporific blossom might replace some of the rock garden and mark the far end of the property with shade and a place to rest.