‘They’ll want hard cheese too. Think of the shelf life.’
‘I know. I should have thought. I suppose I wanted them to make amazing pizza with my home-made mozzarella.’
‘Why don’t you make pizza? It might well be an easier sell than cheese.’
‘Because I want to make cheese! I know the pasture on the farm is special. It’s never been ploughed – even during the war – and the wild flowers are amazing. Not that I’ve seen them, I haven’t beentherelong enough, but know the cheese would be really special. Anyone could make pizza.’
‘You have passion. That’s good.’
‘The trouble is,’ Fran said, getting up, gathering her bits and pieces, ‘I have passion, but not very much knowledge and no money at all. I think I’ll need all of those things.’ She was near tears now. She had to get out before they appeared.
John Radcliffe put out a hand. ‘Sit down,’ he said. ‘Let’s have a coffee or some tea.’ He got up and went to the door. ‘If anyone could send a couple of teas in here I’d be grateful.’
The tea came with some chocolate brownies and very soon Fran found herself telling John Radcliffe everything. She told him how she’d come to be on the farm, and about the milk. ‘The trouble is, if I can’t sell it as liquid, and I don’t think I will be able to, long term or for much money – I’m sure you know how low milk prices can drop to – I have to make something. And there are gallons of it.’ She paused for a sip of tea. ‘Although I am getting much better at making the cheese, which does use up masses of milk.’
‘And is there someone who could teach you to make hard cheese?’
She nodded. ‘There’s the herdsman’s mother.’
‘Go to her. Get her to tell you everything. She’ll tell you things you’d never find out from a modern cheesemaker, things that will make your cheese unique. Which is what we’re looking for.Cheesemakingisn’t entirely scientific, there’s a bit of magic involved too. Producers make cheese every day, but sometimes the cheese wins prizes. No one ever knows what they did differently that day to make it prize-winning.’
‘Apparently there’s a quarry somewhere on the farm that I haven’t had time to look for yet that’s a good place to age the cheese.’
‘It sounds absolutely ideal,’ said John Radcliffe, putting the last piece of brownie into his mouth. ‘I’m going to come and visit you in the summer. I have a feeling about you; I think you could produce something really special.’
Later, in a cocktail bar with Issi, near to Antony’s offices, she related all this.
‘So it’s good news really,’ said Issi, watching her friend take a gulp of her Cosmopolitan.
‘Yes, but only in the long term.’ Fran put down her glass and realised it was now empty. ‘I need money now!’
‘Well,’ said Issi. ‘I could take a few days off from my studies. Why don’t I come down and we could do a supper club together? You could give samples of the cheese and perhaps sell it from the back door, so to speak.’
‘Is that legal?’
‘Well, you’d have to make sure it was all hygienically produced and things, wouldn’t you? The same as if you sold it at a farmers’ market.’
‘I’mgoing to have to convert a building or resurrect the dairy. I need somewhere I can make cheese in hygienic conditions,’ said Fran. ‘But where there’s a problem there’s a solution.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’ve got time for another cocktail. Have you?’
Fran and Seb were waiting for Antony who’d been delayed. ‘So what is it he does, actually?’ Fran asked Seb. She might not have felt brave enough to be so direct if it hadn’t been for the cocktails.
‘He does a fair few things. The farm is run by a manager, although Ant does know his stuff there. Mostly, he works in the City, but what really floats his boat is his directorship of a wine-importing business. He likes going out to find the small vineyards that no one knows about,’ said Seb. ‘I like those road trips, they’re a lot of fun.’
Fran realised she didn’t know Antony well enough to think of him as fun. But she was very glad that Seb did.
‘So, how do you come to be Antony’s driver? I mean did you just apply for the job in the normal way?’
Seb shook his head. ‘Ant and I were at uni together. He happened to mention he needed a driver just when I’d mentioned I needed a job. Works perfectly. I live up above the garages at Park House. Nice little flat and room for me to follow my passion,whichis making music.’ He grinned. ‘Works well for both of us.’
Fran slept most of the way home. She got in the back next to Antony and started by pretending to sleep, so she wouldn’t have to tell him that things hadn’t gone as swimmingly as she’d planned (given that no one wanted her to supply them with soft cheese), and then, exhausted by the whole process and two strong drinks, the real thing followed.
Although she had sounded upbeat to Issi – and when she was with her she always felt upbeat – finding premises that would meet the hygiene requirements so she could make and sell her cheese wouldn’t be easy. Getting the old dairy into shape would take capital, and she didn’t have any of that.
She woke up just at the end of the motorway.
‘Do you want a drink of water?’ said Antony, offering an unopened bottle.
‘No thank you,’ said Fran. He’d witnessed her sleeping; she didn’t want him now to watch her chugging water from a bottle – it seemed an unattractive thing to be seen doing.
