‘Suck-up,’ muttered Jason beneath his breath.
Adrienne ignored him, favoured Fliss with a brief, approving, if slightly shrewd smile and continued. ‘While you’re here, you’re free to roam over all of our land. We own everything from here down to the sea and there’s a path down to the main road that takes you to the beach. Just make sure you shut any gates behind you if you’re out walking. Any questions?’
It seemed pretty comprehensive and Hannah couldn’t think of anything in response.
‘What time do we start in the mornings?’ asked Jason warily.
‘Breakfast is at seven-thirty. We start at nine, but if you’ve chores like feeding the hens, you’ll have to be up and away a bit earlier.’
‘I’ve never fed hens,’ said Meredith, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. ‘Or collected fresh eggs.’
‘There’s nothing quite like a fresh organic free-range egg.’ Adrienne beamed. ‘Once you’ve had one, you’ll never taste another like it.’
Hannah wasn’t about to rock the boat but she was pretty sure there was an awful lot of hype in Adrienne’s words. An egg was an egg at the end of the day.
‘I didn’t know we were here to work.’ Fliss’s nostrils flared.
‘Me neither,’ grumbled Jason and the two of them glared at each other, as if horrified that they agreed about anything.
‘It’s not work,’ chided Adrienne. ‘It’s all about appreciating and understanding where our food comes from. Come on, I’ll show you around.’
Suddenly there was a skittering of feet as someone came bursting into the room framed by a halo of flying red hair. ‘So sorry I’m late,’ she said in a Scottish accent. ‘Sheep on the road. I had to stop and help and when I said I was due here, the farmer said to say hello.’
Adrienne’s mouth quirked with wry amusement. ‘And here I was talking about punctuality. I’m betting that was Pádraig O’Brien – he’s a menace that man. Those sheep are always on the road but he’s enough charm to feed the birds from his hands. You must be Isabel McBride.’
‘Oh, please call me Izzy. My mother’s the only person that calls me Isabel and she’s quite dotty.’
‘Welcome to Killorgally, Izzy. I’ll let the others introduce themselves as we do the tour. Leave your case here. Would you like some cake and a cup of tea?’
‘No, it’s fine. I’ve held you up already,’ said Izzy, shooting a quick look of longing at the table.
‘Here, love.’ Meredith was already cutting a slab of cake. ‘And have a quick sip of tea to whet your whistle. We don’t mind waiting a minute or two, do we?’
Poor Izzy looked mortified. ‘I’ll bring my cake with me and just have a quick slurp.’
‘No, no,’ said Adrienne. ‘I just didn’t want to keep everyone waiting, but if they don’t mind it’s fine. We’re still waiting on one more and, besides, cake should never be rushed.’ She sank gracefully into one of the chairs. ‘I was just explaining some of the rules.’ As Izzy munched her cake, Adrienne reiterated her earlier words.
‘One thing I forgot to say. No mobile phones in the kitchen or at the table.’
‘What?’ Fliss’s eyes bulged. ‘You don’t mean that?’
‘Oh but I do. How can you concentrate when your mind is half a world away, floating off all over the internet? Unless someone is sending you life-saving instructions to enable you to perform emergency brain surgery, I can’t think of a single reason as to why you would need your phone on during a meal or while cooking. All agreed?’ She looked around with a calm, no-nonsense, implacable smile. Hannah decided that Adrienne was as terrifying as she was charming. Everything would be fine as long as you did things her way.
The smell of rosemary, as they brushed along the neat hedge skirting the stone path that ran through the herb garden, was wonderful. Every now and then Adrienne would stop beside another plant, pluck a leaf, rub it between her fingers and offer it around to encourage them to smell and try to identify it. Hannah managed sage, mint, parsley, and basil, while Meredith identified tarragon, chives, lemon verbena, oregano, and thyme but Alan was the standout winner naming borage, feverfew, chervil, and sorrel. Jason hung at the back, his hands in his pockets and an impatient expression on his face, making it clear this wasn’t his bag.
Bees abounded in the immaculately planted gardens, buzzing busily from flower to flower. Neat stone paths weaved in and out of the different beds and as the group walked through, brushing against the different plants, the air was perfumed with bursts of herbal scents.
From the pretty enclosed herb garden, Adrienne shepherded them through an arch towards a vast vegetable garden, although she had to double back and collect Meredith, who had her head buried in a patch of Thai basil.
‘Sorry, it’s just such a fragrant smell. It’s wonderful.’
Adrienne nodded, delighted with her enthusiasm. ‘This is our vegetable garden.’ She swept out an arm. As far as the eye could see, there were neatly tended raised beds, patches of earth with tender shoots, towering canes loaded with greenery and a huge arched polytunnel which stretched away into the distance. ‘We grow a large proportion of our ingredients here. Everything from courgettes, aubergines, potatoes, and tomatoes, to peas, beans, cucumbers, and lettuce. We also grow our own fruit. Over to the west,’ she pointed, ‘we’ve got an orchard where we grow apples and pears. At the back there, we have our fruit canes where we grow soft fruit.’
A woman with long, dark hair and milky skin, looking rather romantic in her long summer dress and wearing a large, brimmed hat was wandering along with an older man with slightly bandy legs who wore a smart panama. As they ambled between the beds they picked this and that, putting their harvest into the large trugs they carried. They made an idyllic picture.
‘Whatever they collect, we’ll be eating for dinner,’ said Adrienne as she saw Hannah’s gaze stray their way. ‘Part of my philosophy is to eat seasonally. So whatever is in season is served in the restaurant for dinner and each menu is prepared weekly, or sometimes monthly, according to what is available.’
‘Sounds like a lot of work to me,’ muttered Jason.
