She looked round and smiled involuntarily. ‘But today the storm has passed and we’ll go exploring, eh? I fell in love with your house as well as you, Angus. Dennings is beautiful and living here is exciting, so very different from being an office manager in Australia, not to mention my difficulties as a divorced woman raising three lively sons on a pittance.’

‘One of them has just produced a son himself, Grandma Nell.’

‘I still can’t believe I’m a grandma.’

‘You’re a step-grandma as well. I think it’s great being a grandfather. I just wish Ashleigh lived closer, but her husband’s farm is non-negotiable as a place to live. Now, hurry up and change into some old clothes. I’m starting to feel excited about what we might find in Saffron Lane.’

They strolled through the rear gardens hand in hand and down towards the left corner of the property. The buildings were behind some huge old trees and overgrown bushes, so hardly anything showed from the rear drive except an entrance that really did look like a lane, only just wide enough for two cars to pass.

She paused to stare round. ‘It’s as if this corner of the grounds has been asleep and is waiting to be woken up again.’

‘Well, don’t move forward till I’ve cleared a path. I’ll get the gardener to clear the connection between Saffron Lane and the street. It won’t take him long with our small tractor. Good thing it’s not a made-up road with asphalt, just a dirt track. The weeds grow quickly but are easy to clear and then the road can be levelled.’

Angus stopped to pick up a stick-sized piece of dead branch and whacked a few of the nettles out of their way on the path, trampling on them for good measure. ‘I don’t want you to get stung. Nettles are always happy to prove that a human being can itch and hurt at the same time.’

Nell followed him along the narrow path he’d cleared but they stopped again on the other side of the shrubbery to study the houses. ‘It’s hardly a street; it’s only six houses long and one-sided.’

‘Well, they gave it a name and the council approved it, so someone must have felt it mattered.’

She was still staring. ‘They’re not what I call cottages. They might not be big but they’re detached houses, and three of them have dormer windows in the attics. The two houses at the end standing at right angles to the others are bigger with Number 6 the biggest of all. They’re a charming group of buildings, aren’t they? Let’s go inside.’

He grabbed her hand. ‘Put your safety helmet on first. We’ll go slowly. No rushing into the buildings.’

‘I’ll be careful, I promise. We might as well start at Number 1 and work our way along.’

‘Your wish is my command.’

‘You know, the street is more attractive than modern housing in England, where every house seems to be almost a carbon copy of the one next to it. When do you think these houses were built?’