A Taste of Home Page 16

  Working out how to widen the path would be another job to add to the ever-growing list.

  ‘Thank you for supplying these,’ I said, nodding to the stack of covered bales. ‘Now all I have to do is get the straw down and we’ll be all set. I’ll make a start on that tomorrow.’

  ‘Have you got anyone to help you?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s just going to be me, but I don’t mind that.’

  ‘Bill said you know a lot about the industry already. He reckons you could run this place single-handed.’

  I felt rather proud that he had such a high opinion of me and my experience.

  ‘I know my way around,’ I said as we climbed back into the Mule and headed to the yard where Grandad was waiting with three glasses of lemonade. ‘And I’ve recently come to realise that my whole life has been leading up to me coming here. First off I’ve always had this slightly unusual passion for fruit farming and now I’ve discovered that it’s the family business and embedded in my genes.’

  I didn’t mention how I’d found out it was the family business.

  ‘I’m looking forward to hearing more about it,’ said Jake. ‘And my partner, Amber and aunt, Annie are desperate to meet you. They’re hoping you’ll spend the afternoon with us, if that suits you.’

  ‘I’d love to,’ I said, my sudden willingness to mingle with people I’d never met, taking me by surprise, ‘but I don’t want to put you out. You must be busy and it hardly seems fair that you’ve got to chauffeur me about.’

  ‘Only one way,’ he said. ‘And I’m going back to the farm anyway.’

  Immersed in the stint of hard work, I’d forgotten that Grandad had a surprise that required my driving licence.

  ‘Bugger,’ Jake laughed, clapping his hand over his mouth. ‘I almost let the cat out of the bag there. Don’t tell Bill. He’ll have my guts for garters.’

  ‘Your secret is safe with me,’ I told him, even though I was bursting to pump him for further information.

  It was no surprise that it was Little Miss Bossy who first emerged from the henhouse. She was soon followed by the other two and they stalked about, scratching at the ground and clucking over any tasty morsels they unearthed.

  ‘It’s amazing that they know what to do, isn’t it?’ I mused, squatting down to watch them. ‘You’d think their instincts would have been squashed after that year in a cage.’

  ‘It’s nearer eighteen months they’re kept like that,’ Jake sadly said. ‘But I’ve never housed one yet who hasn’t got the hang of life beyond the confines of the cage.’

  ‘That’s good,’ I said, standing up again. ‘These look as though they’ve been here for ever already, don’t they Grandad?’

  ‘They do,’ he agreed. ‘And they’re going to be worth their weight in golden eggs when it comes to helping us clear the fruit cages after harvest.’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Jake. ‘They’ll love that.’

  He looked at his watch.

  ‘Crikey,’ he said. ‘We’d better get going. Amber and Annie are laying on lunch in your honour, Fliss. We’ll skip that refill you were just about to offer us, Bill.’

  Grandad rolled his eyes and took our empty glasses.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come?’ Jake asked him. ‘I can drop Fliss off and easily come back for you.’

  ‘No, but thank you for the offer,’ Grandad said. ‘I’m actually looking forward to a bit more peace and quiet.’

  I wondered if Eliot might call in again and interrupt Grandad’s longed-for solitude. If he did, he’d only be offered coffee to drink!

  ‘I’ll just get changed,’ I said, noticing my slightly grubby straw covered vest and shorts.

  ‘No time,’ said Jake. ‘Come on.’

  Skylark Farm was closer than I expected, so there was no opportunity for my courage or freshly found willingness to mingle, to fail me. He explained, shouting over the noise of the engine and the wind rushing by, that Bill and Annie had known each other for ever and that she had been really worried about him until she heard that I’d shown up.

  ‘To be honest,’ said Jake, his volume lessening as he slowed down at his farm, which was easily identified by a large and smart painted sign at the gate, ‘we’ve all been worried. Chris Dempster and I both thought the farm was going to fold and Bill was going to end up in a home or something. He was so frail and… well, defeated.’

  ‘But not now?’

  ‘God no,’ he said, swinging in. ‘I could hardly say anything to his face, but it was a shock seeing him today. And a good one. He looked like a changed man. You’ve given him a new lease of life and I hope, we all hope, that you’re going to be staying for good.’

  I was just about to tell him that we still had to work the finer details out, but it was certainly looking that way, when I caught sight of a very familiar Ducati parked up at the farmhouse.

  ‘Oh,’ smiled Jake. ‘Eliot’s here. Maybe he’ll stay for lunch too. He’s been popping in to sit with Annie while Amber and I are busy on the farm. Not that we’d let her think that’s what he’s here for. She had a fall earlier in the year but she’s a stubborn cuss and wouldn’t appreciate us thinking that she needs minding.’

  ‘Has she not worked it out?’ I asked.

  I couldn’t think of any other reason why she might think Eliot would spend time with her. Unless of course, she just liked his company. From the little I knew of him so far, it seemed like everyone else did, so that was most likely it.

  ‘If she has, she hasn’t let on,’ Jake told me. ‘I daresay you’ve already met Eliot, haven’t you? What with him being such a close friend of Bill’s too.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, picking more straw off my clothes. ‘Our paths have crossed.’

  I spent a very happy afternoon at Skylark Farm. Amber was every inch the picture-perfect farming type in her Joules patterned wellies, and Annie, with her periwinkle eyes and sharp wit, was both shrewd and observant. She reminded me of a Fenland equivalent of Nonna Rossi. Amber and Jake had two children, but they were at school, so it was just the five of us for lunch. Six if you counted the elderly Labrador scouting for crumbs.

  Eliot and I said a brief, but slightly awkward, hello and I did my utmost to steer the conversation away from talk of how long I was planning to stay at Fenview Farm. The last thing I wanted was him picking at the thread he’d started to pull at the day of too much fizz.

  We ate outside, in a set-up not all that dissimilar to the one Grandad and I had established, and which largely featured delicious fare in the form of pork, honey and apples, which were all produced on the farm.

  ‘It’s a beautiful place you’ve got here,’ I said, looking around and taking in the pretty garden, tidy yard and well-maintained farmhouse.

  There was a wooden building which looked quite new and was covered in bright hanging baskets. That, Jake told me, was where they sold their produce, along with some of the Fenview Farm fruit, direct to the public. They also had a stall at the fortnightly farmers’ market in Wynbridge.

  Skylark Farm made Fenview look shabby by comparison, but I knew I needed to keep my mind focused on sorting the farm finances before I dealt with the aesthetics. Helping the farm make more money had to take precedence over making it look pretty, for now at least.

  ‘Thank you,’ smiled Amber, clearly delighted with the compliment. ‘We’re very happy here and it all looks rather different to how it did when I arrived.’

  ‘She’s had a big hand in transforming the place,’ said Annie, eyeing me beadily, ‘just like you’re now doing at Fenview. A little bird told me, that you’re going to be supplying the Cherry Tree Café with their fruit from now on.’

  My gaze flicked to Eliot and I wondered if he was the little bird in question.

  ‘That’s right,’ I smiled at Annie, thinking there was no point denying it, even if I wasn’t sure if Grandad, Jemma or I wanted it widely known just yet. ‘And that’s just the beginning,’ I added for good measure, suddenly deciding to
face full on the one issue I’d previously tried to avoid. ‘I’ve got more great plans which will help secure the future of the farm and my role in it.’

  Eliot looked at me and raised his eyebrows and I wondered what he was thinking. Had I just raised his hopes and led him to assume that I was hinting that I was staying on, partly so that we could act on our feelings for one another? I hoped not, because that hadn’t been my intention. I was more interested in ensuring that Grandad heard from every possible corner about my commitment to the farm.

  I felt my temperature rise as I again remembered Grandad’s now imminent visit to the bank. I hoped these great plans would soon land fully formed in my lap because it was all well and good bandying the words about, but I was going to have to come good on them at some point.

  ‘Then Bill’s a very lucky chap,’ Annie nodded in approval. ‘It seems to me the women around here are entrepreneurial in the extreme. There’s Jemma and Lizzie at the Cherry Tree and Lottie up the road with her vintage glamping, not to mention the girls with the plant nursery, and that’s just off the top of my head. And now there’s you too, Fliss. The area is very lucky to have you. Don’t you agree, Eliot?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, turning slightly pink. ‘Of course, and for good, too.’

  That sounded as if my intentions to stay were sinking in, but I hoped for all the right reasons. I briefly met his gaze and he knocked me for six with his thousand-kilowatt smile. Wishing it wouldn’t, but unable to stop it, I felt my face turn far redder than his.

  ‘It’s a huge comfort to know that Bill has you with him, Fliss,’ Jake joined in.

  ‘And I couldn’t agree more about us entrepreneurial women, Annie,’ said Amber. ‘We’ve all found our niche and we all work well together. We’re all happy to support each other’s businesses too and I think that’s why we’re thriving. The networking scene in and around Wynbridge is a huge help.’

  ‘In that case,’ I said, turning my attention back to the conversation and pushing aside my concerns about what Eliot was thinking, ‘I’m even happier to be here.’

  A little later, Amber had to go and collect the children from school and Eliot was thankfully expected elsewhere too.

  ‘Why don’t you show Fliss around properly?’ Amber suggested to Jake once Eliot was no more than a speck on the horizon and I had relaxed again. ‘She might get even more ideas for Fenview.’

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked me. ‘Have you got to rush back?’

  ‘I can’t rush anywhere,’ I reminded him, ‘until you’ve revealed what it is that I’m going to be rushing back in.’

  ‘That’s true,’ he said. ‘Come on then.’

  The whistle-stop tour started with the rare breed pigs, which were raised for their prime meat and after that we drove through the immaculately kept orchards which supplied the fruit for Skylark cider and perry.

  ‘And we let the pigs graze in here too,’ said Jake, as he weaved the Mule between the trees. ‘They clear up in much the same way as your hens will in the fruit cages.’

  ‘Do you think the apples the pigs eat flavours the meat?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Definitely. It’s subtle, but definitely noticeable.’

  There were bees too, providing honey and wax and a pretty bungalow called Meadowview, which was a holiday let decorated with a vintage twist.

  ‘So, there you have it,’ he said when we pulled back into the yard, ‘that’s our place.’

  ‘It’s fantastic,’ I told him. ‘And I think it’s great that you can sell what you produce on site and I’m grateful that you’ve helped Grandad by selling our fruit here too.’

  ‘Yes, selling direct has worked out well and I’m happy to keep doing it for you, Fliss. The only other thing we’d like to do is host events where we could cook and serve the food we produce to paying guests.’

  ‘What like an annual food festival?’

  ‘No, something more regular than that.’

  ‘An exclusive supper club?’

  I’d recently read about a couple in a magazine. They looked and sounded wonderful.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Exactly that, but unfortunately, we haven’t got the room here.’

  The venues I’d seen online were idyllic. One was located in the old glasshouses of a former garden centre, and the menus changed for every event so that the very best of what was on offer in the area could be presented at its peak.

  ‘Um,’ I said, looking about. ‘I suppose you are a bit tight for space here now, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jake agreed, ‘and the occasional waft from the pigs probably wouldn’t go down all that well with discerning diners either. We’ve had the odd wedding here in the past, pitching a marquee in the meadow, but we decided to stop when we increased the pig numbers.’

  I couldn’t help thinking that if folk were dining or tying the knot in the country then they should perhaps be expecting earthy smells, but I didn’t say so.

  ‘What you really need,’ I said instead, my heart fluttering as my mind tracked back to the farm’s produce and whirred with the beginnings of an idea, ‘is somewhere, not too rural, that has the capacity to park a few cars and the space to serve food to enough people to make it profitable, but not so big that you lose the exclusive and intimate ambience…’

  ‘Exactly,’ he said, ‘and as you can see, we haven’t got the capability for anything like that here.’

  I tucked the idea away for further thought.

  ‘Which is a shame,’ Jake carried on, ‘because locals often complain about not having somewhere special to eat in the evenings.’

  ‘Funnily enough,’ I told him, ‘Lizzie in the Cherry Tree Café was discussing that very thing, just last week. I’m surprised Wynbridge hasn’t got more restaurants given the demand.’

  ‘There are a couple,’ he said, ‘and they’re lovely, but nothing out of the ordinary and then there’s the pub. Once you’ve exhausted those three, and the takeaways, then there’s nothing else for miles.’

  ‘I see,’ I said.

  ‘I’m going to investigate further,’ Jake mused. ‘I know the answer is around here somewhere, I just have to find it.’

  We were both lost in our thoughts for a moment and then Annie came out to join us.

  ‘You’re still here,’ she smiled at me. ‘Would you like some tea? I’m just making a pot for when Amber gets back.’

  ‘Thank you, but no,’ I said. ‘I really should be going. I’ve been gone ages. I hope Grandad’s all right.’

  ‘I shouldn’t worry,’ she said. ‘Eliot told me he was planning to pop in on his way past. I’m sure he would have let us know if anything was amiss.’

  So, Grandad’s peaceful afternoon had been interrupted after all. I hoped Eliot had made a point of reassuring him that I had been talking about staying on at the farm.

  ‘Was Eliot all right?’ Jake frowned. ‘He seemed a bit quiet to me.’

  ‘Lots on his mind, I expect,’ said Annie, looking enquiringly at me. ‘Affairs of the heart, I reckon.’

  I bent to fuss the dog to avoid her eye.

  ‘I should have warned you, Fliss,’ said Jake. ‘Annie can read minds as well as hearts. You have to be careful what you’re thinking around her!’

  I hoped he was joking. I didn’t need anyone else working out that Eliot and I were trying to maintain a bit of distance.

  ‘As if,’ tutted Annie.

  ‘Right,’ said Jake, thankfully abandoning the subject. ‘Let’s get you moving, Fliss.’

  He jogged off and reappeared not on foot, but behind the wheel of a green Land Rover. He turned off the engine, jumped out and tossed the keys to me.

  ‘She’s a Defender County,’ he said, patting the bonnet affectionately, ‘a two thousand plate, and Bill’s pride and joy.’

  ‘You’re kidding,’ I gasped, my eyes on stalks. ‘She belongs to Grandad?’

  ‘His last big investment and she’s as reliable as they come.’

  She was also gorgeous
and would be a huge help on the farm and in getting me to and from town with fruit for the Cherry Tree.

  ‘What’s she doing here?’ I asked.

  ‘She’s been with us for about a year,’ said Annie. ‘Once Bill’s hip really started to play up, he couldn’t get in and out of the cab anymore, so he asked Jake to drive her.’

  ‘He was never going to part with her,’ Jake further explained, ‘so I said I’d keep her here, out of harm’s way in case anyone saw her standing in the yard and took a shine to her.’

  ‘Stole her, you mean?’

  ‘Exactly. Rural crime’s big business and I think Bill felt a bit vulnerable having her at the farm and of course, he wanted to keep her running. He’s planning to drive her again himself as soon as he can comfortably get in and out, but in the meantime, she’s all yours.’

  ‘He wanted my licence to sort the insurance, didn’t he?’

  ‘He sure did.’

  My hands were shaking as I climbed inside and inhaled the smell all working farm vehicles seemed to have. It was a combination of earth, oil and something indefinable.

  ‘What do you think?’ Jake asked, opening the passenger door and depositing a bag into the footwell. ‘Everything look familiar?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, checking the dials and switches. ‘She’s in great condition.’

  ‘She’s certainly been loved.’

  He was right about that.

  ‘What’s in the bag?’

  ‘Just a few bits,’ he shrugged. ‘I promised Bill a jar of honey.’

  ‘There’s more than a jar of honey in there,’ I laughed.

  ‘There’s some cider,’ he reeled off, ‘and sausages, a few slices of bacon and a couple of chops, oh and a salve Annie’s made to help Bill’s scar to heal. She’s a bit of a white witch on the side.’

  ‘I can hear you Jake Somerville,’ she said. ‘If you have to call me anything, I think I prefer healer, if it’s all the same to you.’

  He looked at me and raised his eyebrows and I turned the engine over.

  Having thanked them for lunch, the tour and the Skylark supplies, I set off, under my own steam at last. Grandad was waiting for me, thankfully alone, under the apple tree and his face was a picture when I gave him a blast on the horn.