The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,121
send Larry and Jon over to look into the electrics and plumbing.’
‘Don’s got a trusty team of experts on tap,’ Ned explained to me. ‘He arranges everything.’
Don gave his attractive, gap-toothed smile. ‘I wouldn’t worry about the mess, either, because we can do a lot of the work on this side before we knock through, and then we’ll seal off the opening with thick plastic sheet to stop any dust getting through while we open it up.’
Ned, initially reluctant to part with any more money on something that wasn’t directly related to his beloved garden, now seemed to have moved beyond mere acceptance of the fact that he would need to install disabled facilities sooner rather than later and was warming to the idea.
‘I’ll wait for the estimate and, if that’s OK, it’ll just be a question of when you can start on it.’
‘Fit you in fairly soon, I should think – and you know me, once I’ve started a job, I don’t hang about.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Ned.
When he’d gone, Ned said to me, ‘I’d better start looking out some old photos and stuff for the museum! Once Don gets going, he’s amazingly fast. He had the shop sorted in no time.’
‘There’s sure to be lots of interesting things in those boxes of papers you’ve got in your study – maybe even a plan of the rose garden!’ I said.
‘I know, but they’ll take ages to go through. There’s a big chest and then a box that’s not much smaller – not to mention what’s in that window seat – and Uncle Theo seems to have well and truly jumbled most of it up.’
‘I could help you sort it out in the evenings, if you like?’ I offered. ‘I’ve almost finished going through my and Mum’s things I brought to the flat, so I don’t mind, and it won’t take so long with two of us.’
Especially when at least one of us was longing to have a rummage through it all, in search of lost nuggets of garden history!
‘OK, we could just rough-sort them first, looking for anything we can use – like your rose garden plan, though I doubt that exists.’
‘Perhaps not, but there’s bound to be something about the temple folly, if only in the accounts book for the materials and labour,’ I pointed out.
‘I suppose so, and maybe more planting lists, or plant orders, dating back to earlier times.’
The peacock must have said the wrong thing to his mate because she was chasing him around the courtyard, pecking viciously at him.
‘On the wings of love,’ I murmured, as Lancelot flapped in an ungainly way to the top of the wall to escape her, and Ned grinned.
‘Where did you say you were going today?’ he asked.
‘I didn’t, but I thought I’d have a look at St Gabriel’s church and Thorstane, then perhaps see how they’re getting on at the dig. Luke and his team start there today and Treena’s got a day off, so she’s going to come over at some point, too.’
To my surprise, Ned diffidently offered to drive me there. ‘We’ve all worked so hard to get the garden open and it’s been hectic all weekend, so I could do with a break.’
‘OK, that would be nice,’ I agreed, and he said he’d bring the car round to the front of the café in ten minutes.
I fetched my rucksack and applied a quick dab of lip gloss, then went down to find that the car was actually a big four-wheel-drive Jeep thing, which you probably needed in winter up there.
‘I thought we’d go up the hard way, and down the easy, seeing as the weather’s good,’ Ned said, driving over the humpback bridge and turning right up the hill.
‘But I thought the road from the top of the village to Thorstane was really steep and difficult,’ I said, feeling slightly alarmed.
‘It is, and there are some really hairy zigzags … but it all adds to the fun.’
He seemed to be looking forward to the challenge, which was more than I was, but I supposed it was better to be going up it, than hurtling down …
Mr Toller, standing outside his shop, waved at us as we passed. Unlike the day of my arrival, the pavements were filled with visitors, looking into the shop and gallery windows. The signs were swinging outside the guesthouses, advertising morning coffee, lunch and afternoon teas.
Beyond the last of the houses the road surface, as I had noticed on my walk, suddenly