Nancy had always wanted a circular driveway. Ever since she was a little girl. She had seen a Disney movie where a carriage had pulled up, led by snow-white horses and a girl in a floaty gown had stepped out. Or something. She couldn’t quite remember but it was the sense of arrival that had stuck with her. Of owning the home you’d always dreamed of.
She drove her car slowly around the gravel circle, then after her mammoth drive, she finally stopped. Switched off her new electric Tesla and tentatively patted it, as if to say: thank you for getting me here. She’d only had it a couple of weeks and was still getting used to it. She then turned and gazed at her new house.
It was all hers. One hundred per cent owned outright.
And it was the first house she’d ever bought in her life.
Willow Barn was nothing like a barn in the traditional sense. It had made her laugh when she’d first heard its name, sitting despondently at the kitchen table in a poky two-bedroomed flat in London, where the very air they breathed was polluted by the poisonous fumes floating up from the traffic-packed South Circular road below them. As far as Nancy knew, barns were buildings that were cold and draughty where farmers stored hay. But Gemma the estate agent was on the phone, telling her that she might have found ‘the one’. And the pictures that arrived in her inbox were breathtaking.
Gleaming black-framed windows that reached from the slate roof right down to the ground, stretching the length of the building. Airy vaulted ceilings. Solid oak staircases that led up to sizeable bedrooms with balcony views over the largest reservoir in Derbyshire: Heron Water, a nature’s paradise. Three acres of gardens that included woods and even an orchard. Nancy had clicked through, her jaw dropping more with every photo. Some of the rooms admittedly weren’t to her taste. The previous owners had had a tendency to go for decor that was apparently the latest trend; in this case walls that were painted a mix of dark grey or deep blue with a hint of grey, or crimson with a grey hue. All colours that in Nancy’s unsophisticated opinion resembled the water in the paint pot once the kids in the children’s ward where she used to work had rinsed their brushes. But she could change all that and the potential – my God, the potential! . . . It was magnificent.
The absolute best thing about the barn was its position. Heron Water formed the shape of a swift in flight: a head, forked tail and two wings spread wide, the feathers marked by dozens of inlets lined with reeds and trees. Nancy’s house-to-be lay under the bird’s right wing. In the photo that she’d stared at, Nancy could see the eponymous herons wading along the banks, the willow trees draping their branches into the water. It was this proximity to nature and the house’s air of peace that made Nancy say yes. She was desperate for a change from London, a new start after a devastating eleven months. She thought that a move to the countryside, where the air was clean, where it was friendly, where there would be a strong sense of community, this would be the best thing for both her and her ten-year-old daughter. Nancy had wanted a quick purchase, no chain. She’d wanted to get out of London the second the money was in her bank account. Willow Barn had a repossession order on it, so Nancy, being a cash buyer, had been able to pick it up at a bargain price and she’d pushed for the sale to go through as fast as possible so that Lara could make the start of the new term.
‘Mum, look!’ squealed Lara from the back seat.
Nancy turned her head in the direction her daughter was pointing. A V-formation of birds was flying low towards them. Were they ducks? Geese? Nancy had no idea. She had a lot to learn about the country. The birds, honking loudly, flew above the car then disappeared over the barn, presumably heading for the reservoir.
Lara was already opening her door in excitement and Nancy smiled as she followed. Lara ran down the side of the house, through the gate and into the back garden. Nancy saw trees that would be climbed, borders that were still full of the late summer gold of grasses and some rather lovely, but to her untrained eye, unidentifiable tall orange and pink flowers. In the orchard that was on the south side of the barn, she could see trees laden with apples, pears and plums. Ahead of them was a vast expanse of green lawn. Faced with such an inviting wide-open space, Nancy was suddenly filled with a child-like compulsion. She looked questioningly at Lara, unsure of whether it was a good idea, but Lara grabbed her hand. They held tight, laughing as they ran to the far end of the garden. For a brief moment, all Nancy’s troubles fell away and she was liberated, carefree and full of joy.
They stopped at another gate and Nancy looked hawk-eyed at Lara.
‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m fine, Mum. The air tastes different here.’
Nancy looked again, just to reassure herself that her daughter had no problems breathing. ‘It does,’ she said. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can forget about your asthma pump.’
‘I know, Mum,’ said Lara impatiently. She looked through the gate down towards some steps: their own private access to the water itself. ‘Can we go to the lake? Please?’ she begged.
Nancy smiled but shook her head. ‘Later. The removal vans will be here soon. We’ll need to let the guys in with our boxes.’
‘I want the holidays to last forever so I can explore and play in the garden.’
‘School starts tomorrow. Nervous?’
‘A bit. But excited to meet new friends.’
‘Loads of new friends!’
They headed back up to the house and Nancy dug in her jacket pocket for the keys. She opened up the oversized grey front door and the large light hallway welcomed them.
‘Can I explore, Mum?’
‘Go ahead.’
Lara ran off, opening doors out of sight and Nancy heard squeals of ‘It’s so big!’ and ‘This is amazing!’ from all over the house.
‘I’m going upstairs,’ called Nancy and headed for what was going to be her bedroom. She ignored the indigo-blue walls and dark grey carpet and made her way to the back of the room. She pulled open the long bi-fold doors and stepped out onto the balcony. A balcony! Never in her wildest dreams . . .
The warm breeze blew her auburn curls across her eyes and she tucked them behind her ear. Willow Barn was positioned high on the bank and she could see over the trees at the bottom of the garden out at her first proper sighting of Heron Water. It gleamed with a blue that was more akin to the sea in southern European climates, the sun glinting off its surface. The trees were still green and glossy, thick with foliage, but it wouldn’t be long before they began to turn into a palette of red and gold.
It was utterly beautiful. Tranquil. More than that. Nancy searched for the word. Healing. That was what it was. For the first time in months she had a sense of hope.