So began a process of integrating parts of the old garden into Elle’s vision. Where you were walking a newly laid cobblestone path, it was lined with wild flowers that had grown there for years. The small pond would be surrounded in long grasses. There were little tranquil bowers and benches to sit in, and walls covered in creeper that would make each guest feel that they had found their own private paradise.

Through it all there was to be a stream, cascading down dips and ending in a small pool. The sound of running water was to be heard all over the garden, and Elle wanted those who relaxed there to truly believe they were in some exotic, palace gardens. Tulips were planted in banks, and spiky aloe cropped up among the paths. Exotic-looking plants the people of the town had never seen before were procured by Hazel and Glenn, and the family were given strict instructions on how to care for them.

After his initial complaints, Colin found a lot to like about gardening. As his body grew used to the work, his mind became immersed in it. Once, he had barely given plants a thought, beyond how they could be plucked and put in a drab room. But he began to learn their intricacies, the way that water was a balm to one plant, an annoyance to another. He learned what variety of flowers to plant to lure birds other than seagulls into the garden.

‘I’ve grown to quite like this business,’ he told Penny at the end of a long day. ‘Before I came here I barely paid attention to things like that. I was so locked away in my mind, thinking that was how a writer should be. But I’ve found that the more I pay attention to the world around me, the more amazing things I see happening everywhere.’

Once Elle’s plan had been carried out in its entirety, the garden looked truly beautiful. Beauty with an element of magic in it, the kind of place where you could lose yourself, even though you were only a few yards from the hotel building.

Hazel pointed out that it would only grow more and more beautiful over the years, the trees they had planted as young saplings becoming tall and stately, gaining a layer of moss over bark. They could tell guests with children that fairies lived there, and host lots of fairy-themed parties.

The real gift of the garden however, was that it would outlast the years of any who had been involved in its original planting. It would continue to grow and thrive and provide a haven for people for many, many years to come.