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Driving back to London on
Saturday morning after visiting a client in Wareham, Dorset, Brett
Richards decided to take the narrow coast road to Poole – such beautiful
country. After a while, he came to Blandhurst, a small town, or was it
a big village, which seemed to have cornered the market in thatched
roofing. It was an attractive, prosperous-looking place. Driving on
slowly, he saw that many of the houses were half-timbered, narrow side
streets showing more modest cottages, invariably growing vegetables in
the front garden, the back yard probably given over to a goat or two,
perhaps a pig. He saw a Norman tower looming over a church, the
intricate leaded glass windows protected on the outside by sturdy
plastic sheeting against a casual stone thrown by a bored local yokel.
Regrettable, but necessary.
Brett continued his drive
through Blandhurst, noticing a dilapidated sign, hanging
uncertainly by its one remaining nail, ‘Blue Lake Castle – 3m’. Well,
if the castle was in the same condition as its sign, it would hardly be
worth his while. Still, three miles…
He turned right as the sign
indicated and, after a curve in the road, he saw it. A real castle,
sitting on the brow of a wide hillock, which descended to a pretty
lake. Blue Lake, evidently.
His architect’s
instincts aroused now, Brett drove up the narrow road to the castle and
parked his sporty Jaguar in the large forecourt. First thing he
noticed, a weathered ‘For Sale’ sign. Interesting. He walked up to the
castle’s central tower, three floors high, with two lower, elegantly
curved wings, their tops crenellated. They had probably been truncated
at some time in the past. He walked around to the back, and saw
indications that originally these two wings had met in a perfect circle,
protecting a large enclosure. He nodded to himself, returning to the
front and studying the imposing entrance. Giving the door a gentle
push, he was surprised to find it swing open.
* * * *
For a moment, he had the
irrational, but unshakable feeling that the castle had been waiting for
him.
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