Barb and this precious house. If I could sell it back to her, I would, but she’s no longer in the position. She seems to hold it against me, even though it was her idea for Nick and I to buy her out so we could live in the family home and bring our children up here. She chose the assisted-living complex because she was “thinking ahead”. She bought the best bungalow there, because her apparently arthritic knee joints meant stairs were becoming more troublesome. No one twisted her arm.

To prevent the added stress of court hearings, Nick and I sat down and hammered out the financial side, coming to our own arrangements. The family home was included in this. It was agreed the best option was for me to stay here with the boys until it was sold, then split the proceeds equally. He is amicable – and secretly I think he’s relieved – that we’re apart and I’m going to be leaving Devon. He can put all his efforts into his job then without my constant moaning about how the police force is his priority and he’s not spending enough time with me and the boys. This plan suits him, even if his mother disagrees.

As I wait for Finley and Leo to get their shoes on and gather their rucksacks, I go outside. I stand back from the front step and turn to look at the house. Its cream-rendered exterior is a little tired-looking but I’m hoping to get away with leaving it unpainted. It doesn’t look shabby next to the identical houses either side, anyway, so I don’t think it’s an issue. I do like it, and had the circumstances been different, I could’ve carried on living here. It is a great place to bring the boys up and, despite it being a terraced property, a good size.

However, there hasn’t been the slightest sniff of interest. It’s possible it’s to do with the proposed new development in the fields behind, even though planning hasn’t been granted yet and won’t be if the villagers have their way. The houses on this estate were built in the early Seventies, and even back then there was controversy about it. But Apple Grove – an estate of forty houses arranged both sides of the road in a large, elongated semi-circle – isn’t as bad as two hundred brand-new homes, which is the planned size of the new one. That scope of development would put a great deal of pressure on the village’s amenities; the school has certainly not got the capacity for an influx of new pupils.