Felix and Poppy, I knew, had their reservations but, on the other hand, it was far closer to them and the children and shamelessly, I used this excuse to talk them round. Not that they would have stopped me buying it. I’d already paid the deposit by the time I told them, anyway, but it did go some way to easing their anxieties that I’d be rattling around in a big house on my own and that it was a lot to look after. I’d promised I’d get a cleaner and a gardener to help me and they appeared satisfied with that.

Obviously, neither of those things happened. I’d decided that perhaps this would be a good time to take up gardening myself. All sorts of studies had been done showing both the physical and mental benefits of such a pastime and I did try. I just literally had no idea what I was doing. Did I cut that down? Was this dead or was it supposed to look like that? When Poppy gently advised me that I’d just ripped out a plant that likely cost about a thousand pounds and that it wasn’t dead, just going into dormancy for the winter, I gave up. Which is why the once beautifully landscaped gardens were now more akin to the rewilding project I’d attempted to get my brother to buy into – unsuccessfully. It really was kind of a mess. I’d have to have another go at tackling it. Swot up on some Gardener’s World episodes and do my best to channel Monty as I ventured forth with my secateurs. I looked again out at the wilderness – a machete might be more appropriate – but where to even start?

I went back through to the bright and airy kitchen that opened out onto the garden and the fields beyond. One was a paddock that belonged to the property but that was home to two horses owned by someone in the village. Thankfully, Felix had been here when they came asking if there was any chance of using the paddock for stabling. I’d wangled him into dealing with it all apart from setting the price which I’d stipulated as a minimum fee. During the chat, from which I’d hidden myself in the study with the excuse that I was on a deadline (I was always on a deadline, so that day was really no different, but it was a good enough reason to exclude myself from the proceedings), I’d overheard that the lady used the horses for therapy work with disabled children. I didn’t need the extra money and the paddock was just sitting there empty anyway, so it made sense to lease it to someone who could make good use of it. The fact that that someone was giving help and bringing joy to children and their families for whom life was a constant struggle made it a no-brainer decision.

I’d wanted to lease it for free but when I proposed this to my solicitor, he went into a long spiel about… the truth is, I’m not sure what he said. After the first few sentences of legalese, my brain switched off and only flicked back on again when I realised he’d stopped talking. I asked him what the absolute minimum was I could charge and still satisfy his terms and he grudgingly gave me one, which I then requested he draw up a contract for. Ideally, I’d have just done everything without the need for anyone else being involved but, as Felix had pointed out, that land was part of my home and it made sense to have terms of use laid out clearly in order to avoid any problems in the future. He was right. The last thing I wanted was confrontation and mess. Felix did point out that it had cost me more to get the contract drawn up than I was charging her for a year’s rent, but I reminded him about the children and he’d shrugged, said, ‘Fair enough,’ and let it go.