He’s right. This is one thing I should have thought about. That’s exactly why the test opening is important, to catch all these little points. “How about leaflets?” I offer as a possible solution.
Raff is shaking his head. “In my experience most leaflets end up in the bin, or simply ‘forgotten’”—he mimes inverted commas on the word forgotten—“on tables here and there and you have to clean them up later. And with evolving projects they go out of date very quickly. It’s a wasted expense printing hundreds, if not thousands.”
I’m a bit overwhelmed with all these challenges at once. Rallying my confidence isn’t easy with so many people arguing different points. Raff is right. But I need a bit of quiet to think of an alternative.
“How about a compromise?” Osian suddenly offers. “Placing a QR code on each of the labels. Something that leads to a web page where you can include as much detail as you want.” He gives me a generous smile and my heart turns over. I love this man.
“If you’re going to have a web page,” the professor says, also sounding more excited, “why not add the political and historical background too? Show why there needs to be an environmental regeneration after centuries of government neglect when Wales was used as a rubbish dump.”
The discussion gets even livelier after that, with suggestions back and forth about what information to include. Then a hand rises from someone at the back. It’s Amani, a twenty three-year-old Asian girl and the youngest of thePerllans. “Can I…?” Then she hesitates and the hand goes down. She must feel a bit of an outsider.
“Please,” Evan prompts. “This is why we have these presentations. To exchange ideas.”
“It’s… um… when I was at uni, I was studying educational psychology and…” Again she falters.
Haneen, sitting nearest to her prompts, “Oh, yes?”
Amani swallows. “You want visitors to discover and learn?” she asks, still timidly.
“Discover more than learn,” I answer. “I don’t want to force-feed people facts.”
“Nor I. That would be…” Alex pretends to snore, and his head drops down as if he’s fallen asleep. A few people laugh.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Amani says. “But you could try something more interactive.”
We’re all listening, which seems to give her more confidence. When she speaks again, her voice is livelier and more excited. “If you, for example, make some of the information on the plants like a game – a quiz. I don’t know, maybe something like…” She pauses, trying to come up with an example.
But already her idea has sparked something for me. “Like, find the rare weed that only grows on rocks in this area. Or which tree in this park can live the longest?”
The professor is so excited he might as well be jumping up and down. “Or how many of the white flowers can be found in ancient Welsh legends?”
“And link them to some of the murals in the house which depict the legends,” Alex agrees.
The entire room vibrates with energy and enthusiasm. My nerves have disappeared, morphing into the good kind of butterflies. I love these people. My partners are as generous with their ideas as they are with their labour. In my TV career, everyone was too competitive to ever share ideas; they hoarded every drop of inspiration in fear of someone else stealing credit.
“I can provide gifts for the winners,” Leonie suggests. “Free dessert or some discounted meals.”
“Won’t this look like a hack?” Nora suddenly joins the discussion, despite not being a partner. “Taking advantage of the real reason people are visiting to bring them to your business.”
There’s a moment of stunned silence. I can’t believe she just said that.The cow! The complete and utter cow!And to Leonie of all people – the woman who’s taken her in and given her a place to stay.
“I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing,” Nora says, voice affectionate like a razorblade dipped in sugar. “But you don’t want it to look like you’re coming in with an irrelevant offer just to promote your café.”
“Actually, the café in particular is an ideal match.” I keep the anger out of my voice, but with difficulty. “Because a lot of what we’ll have in the garden will be herbs and edible flowers.”
I’m lying. It wasn’t part of the planned garden, but now it is. I’ll make sure of it.Bloody Nora!
I smile at Leonie. “If you could feature a particular herb in your menu, we’ll make it a promoted herb of the week and include it in the quiz or game.”
“I like that idea,” Haneen says. Her voice is smooth as always, but now has a slight edge. Haneen doesn’t like Nora either, even if she won’t ever say so. “Could Leonie include recipe cards that people can buy? Like how to cook with tarragon. Or maybe ten recipes for sorrel.”
“I have an article about the role of herbs and certain plants in Welsh folklore,” the professor says. “You’re welcome to use excerpts in your recipe cards.”
Did I mention that I love these people?
“Good. You all have plenty to consider and action over the next couple of weeks. I can coordinate staffing and volunteers. Now I think it must be time for dessert.” Evan signals the end of the presentation.
People move back to the table. When I look at Leonie, Raff has swapped seats with Ashe and is now sitting beside her, a protective arm around her. He looks very angry.
