‘It’s about putting yourself in your potential customers’ shoes,’ she began. ‘Catching their attention first, then selling them what they think they want. Most people only have an idea about what they like, but if you can present ideas and images that capture their imagination, that suggest in some way that they’re only here because of their innate good taste, then flattery will take you the rest of the way.’

She angled the laptop so that Seth could see it better. ‘Then you need to deliver the detail, pulling them in further with each click of the page on the website, showing them possibilities and tantalising glimpses of what’s on offer, backed up by your unique selling points, until you leave them no choice but to want to find out more.’

Seth frowned. ‘But websites like these cost an arm and a leg.’

‘And how else do you expect potential customers to find you? They’re not going to drive all the way out here just to have a look, are they? The website snares people, and then if they’re convinced enough, they can go ahead and make a booking online. If not, they can give us a call for more details and that’s when we reel them in ourselves.’

He wasn’t at all convinced, she could see that. She pushed the laptop away, reaching into her bag to retrieve the print-outs of the mood boards she had created online. Perhaps he would be better looking at something he could connect with – the buildings themselves.

‘These are some suggestions for furniture, potential colour schemes, the style and level of finish which will become your brand. The customers you’re looking to attract will expect to see quality fittings and luxurious soft furnishings. Everything must be exceptionally well maintained, the connected services must be reliable and you need to think about super-fast broadband and network facilities for business users too.’

She waited as he looked between the pages of images she had shown him.

‘These are just a few examples, but I think you can see what they all have in common…’

‘They cost a lot of money?’

‘A solid investment which will ensure a good return.’

Seth nodded. ‘I think I was right the first time.’

She threw him an exasperated look. ‘We need to start work on your website straight away, start building interest, sending out mailings, teasers, so that once you’re up and running you’ll have bookings from the get-go. The interiors of the cottages are obviously something which will have to wait, but even so, some of the more bespoke items will have to be sourced and ordered, and they’ll have a lead time of several months. Right now, you should be concentrating on how you want the complex… sorry, area to look. What unifying features you’d like to see, how you’re going to pull the whole thing together so that you have a cohesive development, instead of a random mishmash of odd buildings.’

To give him his due, he sat back and listened quietly until she had finished, studying the things she had shown him and taking his time looking over the images, shuffling through pages until he had seen enough. Finally, he raised his head.

‘I haven’t done plans or sketches of the site, obviously, but I should probably take you outside,’ he said, ‘so you can show me what this cohesive thingy is you’re talking about.’ He motioned with his head towards her mug. ‘Drink up.’

Her tired legs protested as she stood up, but after a few hobbling steps she found her stride again as she followed Seth out of the door. Even so, she was quite some distance behind him by the time she reached the garden. Her heart sank as she walked over to join him; she had almost forgotten about the thatch they were supposed to be removing, and she had a horrible feeling that they would be back at it before too long.

He turned, facing away from the first cottage and looking out across the garden towards the other three.

‘So, supposing I wanted to “pull all this together”, what would I do?’

Maddie took a step forward.

‘This was my point about the thatching really,’ she said. ‘You can have all the high-end fittings you like, but stick them in a building with a thatch on top and you’re going to have some kind of weird fusion thing going on, and not good weird either. It’ll be tasteless weird and you’ll look like you didn’t know what you were doing.’

‘But everything should be in keeping with the character of the buildings, shouldn’t it? What you’ve shown me is very sleek and modern. I get that it’s what everyone seems to want these days, but it doesn’t fit with these buildings at all.’

‘Then change the buildings.’

Seth scratched his head. ‘But isn’t it easier to change the design of what’s inside?’

‘Easier, yes. Better, absolutely not.’

‘I’m not sure I want to hear this, but go on…’

This really wasn’t in her job remit at all, but Maddie couldn’t un-see the vision she had for this place or resist the urge to share it. If Seth liked it, the rest was just a question of finances; anything was possible if your client had enough money and Agatha’s niece had certainly seemed to suggest that they wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best. If this went well, the end result would be more than she could ever have wished for. It would well and truly put her back on the map. It might even be enough to allow her to return to London with her head held high. There was just one thing she needed to check first.

‘What are your plans for the barn?’

He gave a wry smile. ‘Few and far between at the moment, I’m afraid. There are lots of things I could do with it, but it’s a way down the list of priorities at the moment. Can I take it that it figures slightly larger in your plans than mine?’

This was music to her ears. The whole vision she had to unify the buildings hinged on the barn. She tried not to let her inner high-five show.

‘Well in a way, that’s good news, because the barn sits in a perfect position to become the pivotal feature here. It’s close enough to support the first cottage, the one we’ve been working on today, and it also feeds directly into the garden, which in turn links it with the other three cottages.’

Seth’s head swivelled back and forth as he followed her swinging arm movements. He frowned.

‘What do you mean? How can the barn support the first cottage?’

Her arms spread to encompass the semi-circular view that lay in front of them. ‘Imagine for a moment if the walls of the barn were made of glass… then extend the rear wall to the right to meet the single cottage, you’d have the most amazing atrium in the middle. That’s your conference centre, complete with a range of both large and small meeting rooms, breakout spaces and room for video screens and the like.’

She swung a glance at him to make sure he was following, but his face was inscrutable. She took another breath.

‘Then imagine that the glass extends from the left, curving around the top of the garden via a covered walkway and leading into the garden itself and on to the other cottages. If these also had glass features the whole thing would hang together beautifully. Of course, you’d probably need to alter some aspects of the garden to gain the fullest effect, but wouldn’t it look absolutely stunning?’

Seth was staring out across the space as if he was indeed imagining that very thing.

‘The garden stays as it is.’

Maddie baulked at the harshness in his voice. ‘But it’s central to the space,’ she argued. ‘I don’t mean rip it up or anything, but as it is now it wouldn’t fit with the ideas—’

‘No.’ Then, as if coming to a rapid conclusion, he spun his head back towards the first cottage. ‘We should get on,’ he said. ‘We’ve done well this morning, and with the two of us on the job, we’ll easily get it finished.’ He toed a pebble that lay at the edge of the path. ‘That was a really good proposal you put together, and I can see you’ve put a lot of work into it, thank you.’

Maddie felt her bubble of excitement deflate. What was he saying? She waited for him to make further comment, finding herself staring at the pebble on the path as the silence stretched out. Then, she could bear it no longer.

‘And?’ she asked. ‘Is that it? Thanks for everything, but we’re just going to carry on as if the last fifteen minutes never happened?’

Finally his dark eyes lifted to hers. ‘I’m sorry, Madeline, I know that’s not what you wanted to hear… In other circumstances what you’ve described would be incredible. I’m very impressed by the breadth of your vision and imagination, but I’m sorry, what you have in mind is just not right for Joy’s Acre.’

‘Well, that’s just fantastic,’ she muttered, ‘thanks so much.’ She watched as Seth stiffened. ‘No discussion, no willingness to even try and see how this might be the making of the place. Just a flat thanks, but no thanks…’

She was beginning to wind herself up into a fury, not because he disagreed with her, but because he was refusing to listen, or take her ideas seriously. It would be impossible for her to work with someone like that again. She couldn’t stay here, that much was certain, and she had nothing left to lose. She didn’t owe Seth anything. She could let him have it with both barrels, vent all her frustration, and walk away, no harm done. She was about to speak again when Seth suddenly reached forward, taking her arm, firmly, and spinning her around.

‘Stick a smile on your face and shut up,’ he hissed under his breath.

Maddie tried to wriggle away from him, but he held her firm. She jerked her head backwards, glaring up at him, and was about to wrench her arm away, when she caught sight of someone coming towards them.

‘Please, Madeline.’ His voice was low, his eyes pleading as he dropped her arm. ‘Just follow my lead.’ He took a step forward, finally releasing her.

‘Agatha, good morning!’ he called at the rapidly approaching figure. ‘Beautiful day.’

He waited until she was within a few feet, a wide smile firmly fixed on his face, the rest of his body taut like a coiled spring.

‘You’ve come at just the right moment. Madeline and I were just brainstorming some fantastic ideas.’

Maddie had wondered whether Agatha’s face ever did anything but scowl, but as her gaze wandered to the cottage beside them and the heaps of discarded straw that lay in mounds beside it, her mouth curved upwards, just a little.

‘Well, I’m pleased to see you’ve managed to spur him into action, young lady. It’s about time things got going around here. And I hope you’re going to tell me that once the roof is off that thing you’re going to replace it with something that isn’t quite so horribly twee.’

She fixed her eyes on Maddie, completely ignoring Seth.

‘Well, I…’ Maddie hadn’t a clue what to say.

Seth took a step forwards. ‘I think that’s a given, Agatha. It’s hardly going to be in keeping with the overall scheme of things here, is it? I mean, people will want to see luxurious fixtures and fittings, sleek design, not kitsch make-do and mend. The two are simply not compatible.’

He turned and beamed at Maddie. ‘Fortunately Madeline and I seem to be agreed on this. What was it you said? Much easier to change the buildings to fit the design, rather than the other way around.’

Maddie’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly snapped it shut when she felt Agatha’s eyes settle on her. She had no idea what was going on here, but she could feel the tension like a force field around them.

Nothing would have given her greater pleasure than dropping Seth in it from a very great height at that exact moment, but there was something in Agatha’s bullying tone and Seth’s tight smile that reminded Maddie of a time she’d rather forget. She cleared her throat and lifted her head.

‘It’s not rocket science, is it?’ she said, doing just as Seth asked and plastering a smile on her face. ‘Anyone can see that the whole site is a disaster waiting to happen in commercial terms. You can hardly expect people to part with vast sums of money for something that’s so…’ She glanced about her as if looking for inspiration. ‘… heritage,’ she finished. ‘Heavens, that’s what the National Trust is for, isn’t it?’

Seth’s jawline hardened in response to her sweet smile.

‘Of course, our discussions aren’t final yet, but I’m thinking that on such an open site, particularly one with the garden in the middle, that glass is the way to go? What do you think, Madeline?’ he asked. ‘And I’m kind of thinking on my feet here, but we could even incorporate the barn somehow, as a central focal point?’

Maddie bit her lip. If he was standing any closer she’d have kicked him.

‘Sorry, Agatha, I’m rabbiting on,’ continued Seth. ‘Was there anything in particular you wanted?’

‘Well if there was, I’ve clean forgotten. However, I’m pleased to hear your ideas, Seth. I was beginning to think that you had none. Now, I know I don’t need to remind you why you’re doing all this, or who you’re doing it for, but frankly I don’t care how you do it as long as it makes money for the estate. Make no mistake though, I shall not continue to throw endless amounts of money and resources at something which has no chance of succeeding. I’m sure you’ll keep an eye on things for me, Madeline, and I shall expect to see some costings from you in due course.’ She nodded curtly at them both. ‘I’ll leave you to your discussions.’

For someone of her age she walked fairly rapidly, but for Maddie, Agatha’s disappearance around the corner of the house couldn’t come soon enough. She was about to launch into a full-blown tirade when Seth held up his hand.

‘Don’t,’ he said, bluntly. ‘Whatever you were going to say, just don’t.’ He blinked rapidly, turning his face away.

She stared at him, wondering what had caused the sudden change of expression on his face, but she was too close to boiling point to process the information properly.

‘You out-and-out bastard,’ she hissed. ‘How dare you?’

‘Me?’ Seth fired back. ‘How can you complain about what I said?’ His dark eyes flashed. ‘I’m only repeating your own ideas, whereas you’ve just trampled all over mine! You say the word “heritage” like it’s something to be ashamed of, when it’s what gives this country its identity, its diversity. And you want to replace it with some homogenous… cohesive… crap!’

‘At least they’re original ideas. I’m not trying to steal someone else’s and pass them off to Agatha as my own. That’s low Seth, that’s really low.’

He glared at her. ‘I’m not trying to steal them, because I’ve got no intention of ever letting any of your ideas become reality here. Over. My. Dead. Body.’

‘That can be arranged!’

For a moment both of them held their ground, the air crackling between them. Maddie had been riding the wave of her anger, but even as she frantically searched for what to say next she realised that it was utterly pointless. She had thought for a few minutes that her ideas were gaining some traction with Seth. He had seemed to listen, had even been generous in allowing her to share them as a peace offering after she’d been so rude about Clara. But underneath it all, she now knew he had no intention of budging from his original plans. Her emotions, which had gone up and down like a yo-yo all morning, finally snapped. With one final, disparaging look at Seth she strode off in the direction of the house.