Summer At Willow Tree Farm: the perfect romantic escape for your summer holiday

by Heidi Rice

  ‘That’s been a problem since we started the business,’ Rob said, with Mike nodding in agreement. ‘There aren’t enough independent outlets nearby to sell to, our yield is too small to attract the supermarkets and it’s against the farm’s ethics to transport our goods long distance. When we get a new contract, the feedback’s always really good, but we’re struggling to find enough stockists at a wholesale price that can sustain our profit margins – which is why we started selling the surplus at the local farmers’ markets.’

  ‘All of which is exactly my point and where Pam’s idea comes in,’ Ellie said, beginning to warm to her cause. ‘Five years ago, Pam submitted a planning application for a change of use for the back barn.’ Ellie glanced at her mum. ‘She didn’t tell anyone, because we think she may have wanted it to be a surprise. And then she was diagnosed and well…’ She paused, not sure how to continue.

  ‘The thing is, Ellie found the application approval in Pam’s files,’ Dee kicked in. ‘So we could go ahead with Pam’s idea now, without having to wade through too much red tape, because Pam has already done all that for us.’ The emotion in Dee’s voice had Ellie swallowing the block of emotion in her own throat.

  How come she had never realised exactly how much her mother had loved Pam that long ago summer?

  ‘A change of use to what?’ Rob asked.

  ‘A shop and café,’ Ellie said, then paused, remembering to breathe. No one said anything, so she continued, desperate to fill the silence. ‘Pam wanted to turn the back barn into a shop and café for Dee. You’re in an even stronger position now to launch such a venture after your success locally. Rather than being at the whim of other local stockists or having to transport your surplus to a whole network of community markets around the region – and be at the mercy of their timetables – you could sell everything you produce on the farm, and all the products you make for the markets right here. You’ve got a great range of stuff, which local people obviously love, and it would effectively cut out the middleman.’

  The silence continued for a moment, but then suddenly everyone started talking at once.

  ‘Damn, that is a brilliant idea, why the hell didn’t we think of that ourselves?’ Mike said.

  ‘There’s sure as hell a gap in the market locally,’ Rob spoke over him, while trying to fend off Freddie, who was happily combing his dad’s hair with sticky fingers.

  ‘And the real brilliance of it,’ Annie cut in, ‘is that we have all the labour and talent we need right here to make it happen. The four of us have already worked out a possible timetable.’ She flung her arm out to indicate Ellie as well as Dee and Tess. ‘To renovate the barn and then open by the beginning of August so we can launch during the summer. It’s tight and it’s going to be hard work, but we think it’s doable.’

  ‘Who’s going to run the place once it’s open?’ Rob asked.

  Tess grinned. ‘That’s the best part. The plan would be for me and Annie to jack in our jobs. We could share the childcare, and we were already baking like insane people in our spare time to supply the community market stalls we attend so it wouldn’t be that much more work.’

  ‘I’d be happy to help out with childcare or baking chores when I get home from work in the evenings,’ Maddy said, the enthusiastic smile she sent Ellie full of gratitude. ‘Maybe me and Jay could give up our jobs too, eventually? Our dream was to work on the farm and it might actually become a reality if this works.’

  ‘Anything I bake would probably poison the customers,’ Jacob said, his enthusiasm almost as pronounced as Maddy’s. ‘But I spent some time in foster care as a teenager, so I know how to ride herd on younger kids.’ Little Jamie Jackson chortled on his knee in confirmation. ‘And I would ace the customer service given my astonishing charm.’

  ‘Yeah right, Mr Lover Man.’ Maddy laughed.

  ‘How would we publicise the place?’ Mike asked. ‘We certainly don’t have the funds to advertise?’

  ‘And how are we going to fund the renovation?’ Rob said.

  Ellie held up her hands to halt the flow of questions. ‘If you want to take a look at the business plan I’ve printed out, it includes suggestions for marketing and PR, as well as some costings for the original set up and running costs.’ She’d done her homework on this in the past four days. ‘But in answer to your specific questions,’ she smiled at Mike and Rob. ‘I agree, paid advertising is too expensive and won’t necessarily pay off. To start with we need to keep costs as low as possible. But you’ve already got a great customer base. While we’re setting up the shop, I’d suggest giving out flyers at all those markets, to get the word to your customers that they can get your great products any time of the week if they’re willing to travel to the shop. From the enthusiasm of people in Salisbury, I don’t think that’s going to be too big an ask.’ She carried on talking as everyone began reading their printouts. All except Art, who she noticed was the only one who hadn’t made a comment yet about the idea. ‘The truth is, there’s no better advertisement for what you do than the products themselves,’ she continued. ‘That said, there’s also tons of stuff we can do especially with social media and I’d be happy to set up a website while I’m here. I designed one for my own business and it’s not hard. When it comes to the regulations, I’ve checked with the council and the planning approval still stands, plus Dee already has all the necessary health and safety documentation for the stuff she sells at farmers’ markets, all the other red tape will be to do with the building conversion for the shop itself.’

  ‘Isn’t that going to need a lot of work?’ Jacob said, lifting his head from studying the business plan. ‘It’s almost derelict.’

  Ellie cleared her throat. She was on shakier ground here, knowing absolutely nothing about construction. But she’d braved a walking tour of the facility with Dee and Tess even under threat of rat sightings, and read through Pam’s original specs for the conversion, so she wasn’t going to be deterred. ‘The back barn is actually a beautiful old Victorian building. The high ceiling and exposed beams will look magnificent once they’ve been cleaned up. It also shouldn’t be too expensive to get the running water and electricity connected from the dairy barn.’

  ‘What about the rat problem?’

  At last, he speaks.

  The nerves in Ellie’s stomach spiked. Art’s caustic comment was accompanied by his trademark scowl. Apparently there was one member of the co-op who had not been won over. Yet.

  This time she was ready for him, encouraged by the positive response from everyone else. Pasting a helpful smile on her face, she prepared to schmooze the unschmoozable.

  ‘We’ll call in an exterminator,’ Ellie said. ‘Obviously you haven’t felt the need to invest in one up till now, because you’re only using that barn as a dumping ground for defective equipment. But I had a quick chat with Bill Greenman in Gratesbury who runs the hardware store and does pest control on the side.’

  ‘We know who Bill is,’ Art interrupted. ‘Because the rest of us actually live here.’ The observation struck right at the heart of Ellie’s insecurities, and she was sure Art knew it.

  ‘OK, well…’ She forced herself to continue in the same upbeat manner, determined not to be put off by his attitude. ‘Bill said once we renovate the building and put in a proper floor, we’ll probably find the problem has remedied itself. But either way, he’d be happy to come by and check out the situation and will eradicate any remaining vermin in return for a year’s supply of Dee’s apple and almond polenta cake.’

  ‘You’ve done a ton of work on this,’ Rob said, as he finished leafing through her business plan. ‘And I for one am really impressed,’ he added, looking pointedly at Art.

  ‘I got a lot of help with it from Tess, Annie and my mum,’ Ellie said, feeling oddly teary at the chorus of approval from everyone else in the face of Art’s continued silence.

  ‘Bugger that! We did virtually nothing,’ Annie said, getting nods of agreement from Tess and Dee. ‘This is Ellie�
��s baby and she’s done nearly all the work. And we wanted to ask her if she would consider managing the shop, at least until she goes back home?’

  Ellie’s stomach went into free fall as all the co-op residents except Art chimed in.

  ‘I don’t know…’ She hadn’t even considered it. After all, she was only here for the summer. But, as Tess and Annie and Dee continued to try to persuade her, she sniffed and smiled, and found herself agreeing to the request.

  As everyone started clapping and cheering, the wave of approval almost knocked her off her feet. What was making her so overemotional? This really wasn’t that significant. She’d had nothing else to do in the last week and she’d enjoyed working on the business plan – having a project like this to sink her teeth into was exactly what she loved doing. The planning, preparation and troubleshooting before and during a job were the things she’d excelled at as an event coordinator. But still, she couldn’t deny the feeling of achievement and acceptance that both humbled and excited her as everyone began to talk at once about the project and Tess and Annie both came up to thank her.

  Her mum pushed a plate of walnut coffee cake in front of her. ‘I think you’ve earned this,’ she said.

  ‘Why don’t we take a vote and make the Willow Tree Farm Shop and Café Project official?’ Mike Peveney said, placing an arm round his wife’s shoulders as Tess sent her a thumbs-up.

  Ellie wanted to kiss the man. To kiss all of them.

  ‘All in favour…?’ Annie shouted.

  ‘Where are we going to get the money from?’ Art’s surly tone sliced through the optimism filling the room like a machete, hacking down the forest of raised hands in its wake.

  Ellie stared back at him, trying not to take his negativity personally.

  ‘Your costing says fifty grand,’ he continued, when she remained silent. ‘I think that’s underestimating it. You want to get it up to code, it’s going to cost more than that. And you just finished pointing out we don’t have fifty grand to spare.’

  She stared at her papers, to give herself a chance to calm down and stop her voice betraying her thoughts. ‘The plan was for us to all chip in with our labour to do the grunt work, the painting and decorating et cetera, in any free time we have,’ she said.

  Dee had also been singing Art’s praises as a possible project manager, because he supposedly had major skills in carpentry and construction.

  So much for that idea.

  ‘Pam had done costings on the main expenses, which will be hooking up the water and electricity, laying a proper floor and fitting out the kitchen.’

  ‘And her costings are five years out of date.’ Art dragged a hand through his hair. ‘It’ll cost more now. And you still haven’t said where this magic fifty grand is coming from.’

  ‘I factored in a five per cent increase in those costs for inflation,’ Ellie replied, her voice rising in counterpoint to his. The rest of the company had gone silent, glancing from her to Art, obviously scenting the tension between them. ‘We’ll have to get a business loan, but there are grants we can apply for too.’

  ‘If you think all this is going to happen in five weeks, you’re nuts,’ Art replied. ‘Even if we could get the finance in place, how the hell is everyone going to find the time in their schedules? We’re all busting our balls already to keep this place afloat and you–’

  ‘Art,’ Dee intervened. ‘Stop it. We’re all adults here and we can decide for ourselves whether this is something we can devote enough time to or not. Between the four of us…’ She paused to encompass herself, Ellie, Tess and Annie. ‘We’ve worked out a detailed schedule, which includes an estimate of exactly how much time it’s going to take. It’s daunting,’ she continued. ‘We all know that. But we four will be doing the bulk of the work and this would give us all a chance to work towards achieving our dream for this place, which was Pam’s dream too, instead of just keeping our heads above water. And that’s why, for me, it’ll be worth every extra hour I spend busting my backside to make it happen.’

  The emotion in Ellie’s throat swelled back up again. That her mother had backed the project was one thing, that she’d stood up to Art to do it seemed even more significant. She swallowed, determined not to get sidetracked by feelings that were nineteen years past their sell-by date.

  ‘I agree with Dee,’ Rob added. ‘Plus you need to chill out, Art. You’re getting worked up about nothing. This is just a vote to give Ellie the go-ahead to get confirmed estimates and check out the situation with a loan. If you’d actually bothered to read this like the rest of us–’ he held up the business plan then slapped it back down on the table ‘–before getting your bollocks in a twist, you’d know that.’

  Ellie knew full well why Art hadn’t read the plan more carefully. But she couldn’t muster any sympathy for him.

  His enmity felt personal because it was personal, just like it had been nineteen summers ago when he had made her life hell. She hadn’t belonged then, she’d been the outsider, and he’d rubbed her nose in it. This time the tables were turned, the members of the co-op had welcomed her, had given her a stake, albeit temporary, in this place. And he resented that. She might not want to get sidetracked by the past, but he appeared to be stuck there.

  ‘So are we all finally ready to take a vote?’ Annie said, lifting her eyebrows at Ellie in exasperation.

  The vote was carried, with only one abstention – who left the kitchen without another word.

  No one commented further on Art’s behaviour, everyone keen to congratulate Ellie and talk about all the things they could contribute in the weeks ahead, if they could secure the loan and turn Pam’s dream into a reality.

  After about an hour, all the enthusiasm and excitement had begun to wane, as tired children whined for attention. Toto and Josh appeared to demand their supper and Maddy and Jacob disappeared upstairs as everyone else began to pack up their kids and head home.

  ‘Don’t worry, Art will come around. Especially when he sees how brilliant this is gonna be,’ Annie commented as she left with the now exhausted Freddie snuggled in her arms.

  Once everyone had gone and Toto and Josh had been sent to bed, Ellie helped her mother put the used coffee mugs and plates into the industrial dishwasher. But Art’s intervention kept running through her head.

  He’d managed to cast a shadow over what had been an otherwise energising and exciting evening full of potential for the future.

  The man was the anti-karma.

  ‘Don’t be angry with him,’ Dee said, as she loaded the last of the cutlery and set the machine.

  ‘Angry with who?’ Ellie scooped the cake crumbs off the table, refusing to meet her mother’s eyes.

  She really didn’t want to think about Art and his shitty attitude because it was totally destroying her happy buzz. And reminding her of the distance between her and her mother. That absolutely did not bother her. She wasn’t a teenager any more and she was not about to get into another pissing contest with Art over her mother’s affections. He’d already won that one, but apparently he didn’t even have the good grace to be magnanimous about it.

  Dee rested cool fingers on the tight muscles of Ellie’s forearm. ‘Art’s not good with change.’

  The justification spiked Ellie’s temper. ‘Art’s also not good with people generally. And me in particular.’

  And she’d never done anything to deserve it. Not nineteen years ago and certainly not now.

  ‘He can be difficult when he feels threatened,’ her mother continued, as if this was still all about Art. ‘He had to deal with so much when he was younger. And I suspect it was the only way he could cope.’

  ‘Like what? What exactly did he have to cope with that gives him the right to be an arsey prick for the rest of his natural life?’ Because she really wanted to know now. She’d been so pathetically grateful for her mother’s support. But why should she be? Didn’t she deserve at least a little support from her own mother?

  Why had her mother alw
ays protected Art? Why was she still excusing his behaviour even now? Her mother didn’t know the full extent of what had happened between the two of them back then, and Ellie certainly didn’t intend to enlighten her, because neither of them would come out of it looking good. But she was not about to let Art treat her like that again.

  ‘I got some of it out of Laura,’ Dee said, not disputing that Art was an arsey prick. So you’re OK with that, are you, Mum? ‘And some of it in confidence from Art. And the rest I can only guess at,’ Dee continued, being annoyingly cryptic. ‘But you mustn’t take his manner to heart. It’s just his way.’

  She so would take it to heart, because she had been the one tonight taking the direct hit. But she could see there was no mileage in arguing the toss with the president of the Art Dalton Fan Club. Her mother had declared on Art’s side when she’d made the decision to stay at the commune and become Art’s surrogate mum instead of coming home to London to be Ellie’s real mum.

  The futile resentment burned the back of her throat, but she forced herself to ignore it.

  Ultimately, she’d survived without her mother, she and her father had muddled through on their own.

  She heaved out a sigh and tried to take stock.

  She’d made progress with Dee in the last two weeks. She didn’t want to revisit all those old resentments. It was ancient history now. And anyway, her mum wasn’t the one with a case to answer here. Dee wasn’t the one who had comprehensively tried to screw her over tonight for no good reason.

  ‘Don’t worry, Mum. I’ve had to deal with more than a few difficult clients in my time.’

  Although dealing with a budget-busting change in the entrée from salmon to scallops twenty-four hours before a banquet for five hundred accountants at the end of a team-building weekend didn’t seem quite as daunting right now as corralling six foot two of hard-arsed macho diva.