Country Plot (30 page)

‘I like the idea,' Kitty said. ‘My only worry is who would do the baking? I can't cook to save my life, and I'm not sure if Mrs Phillips would have time to do it all.'

‘I will bake,' Fatty said. ‘I make good English cake. Cookies, too, and muffins.'

‘You could ask around the village,' Bill said. ‘I'm sure there are housewives stuck at home who wouldn't mind a bit of pin money – I can think of two just off the top of my head. They'd love a job, but taking the kids to school and picking them up doesn't leave enough time in between.'

‘And you've the champagne fridge to keep the milk in,' Jenna said, ‘and plenty of cold storage for cake tins. Shall we put a tick against teas?'

‘Oh, I think so,' Kitty said, ‘This is getting so exciting.'

‘What other ideas did you have for increasing the take – is that the right phrase?' Bill asked.

‘Well, there are plant sales – that's the other thing people love spending money on. It might not come off this year, because you haven't had enough notice, but if you have time to take cuttings and set seeds and whatever other things you gardeners do, a nice table with pots of healthy plants and herbs ought to do very well. And they aren't perishable,' she said, smiling.

‘At least, not on the same timescale,' Bill said. ‘I think I could manage that. What about you, Kitty?'

‘I've always got seedlings and cuttings I need a home for. Would people really buy them?'

‘Oh yes – Harriet never goes to a stately without coming back with something. But you must make sure you cost the pot and compost into the price. The other big add-on would be a little shop of some sort. National Trust properties make more on their shops than in entrance fees.'

‘They
are
lovely,' Kitty said. ‘I haven't been to a National Trust property for years, but I do remember loving the shop. I think I still have a tea towel I bought there.'

‘But how could we do that sort of thing?' Bill objected. ‘They have everything with their logo on it – soap, notepads, tins of toffee.'

‘We couldn't copy them, of course. But what I thought was along similar lines to your housewives baking the cakes. If you ask around there are always lots of people who do craft things who would love an outlet – patchwork quilts, baby clothes, paintings, pottery, all sorts of things. You let them sell their stuff in your shop for a commission. They'll probably be willing to man it for you, too, on a rota. As long as you vet the quality, it will bring in extra money for little extra work. But the main importance of it is not how much the shop takes, but how much more attractive it makes Holtby as a place to visit.'

‘Yes, I do see that,' Kitty said. ‘House, gardens, plant sales, teas, shop – I do see.' She smiled. ‘
I'd
come on a day out, and I've seen it all before.'

Jenna said, ‘There are really few limits on what you can do to add value, but I don't want to go into that too much, because I want to keep it as simple as possible so that you can get started. The rest of the stuff is for the future, when you see how it's going, how much you're making, how much time and work you're willing to put in. So I've come up with a sort of minimum plan that I think you could get under way quickly and without too much work or outlay.'

‘All right,' Bill said, ‘let's have it.' He looked at Kitty. ‘You know Fatty and I are on board with this. We'll do everything we can to make it work.'

‘Bless you, Bill. You're too good to me,' Kitty said. ‘And Fatty – I don't know where I'd be without you.'

‘Well, I know where Fatty and I would be without you – homeless. So no more of that. Jenna, the plan.'

‘All right,' Jenna said. ‘You remember I said four rooms would be enough? Well, the dining room and drawing room are obviously perfect. They need only a little rearranging, moving some things out, putting others in. You want your most interesting objets d'art and paintings in the visitors' rooms, the things with a backstory. My idea is that they should illustrate the history of the house, and I've got some ideas about that for later. So, visitors come in through the front door, into the magnificent hall, and they buy their ticket. They look at the drawing room and dining room, then up the fabulous main stairs – we ought to have some paintings on the staircase wall, by the way – and along the corridor to Lady Mary's room, which again needs only a bit of decluttering and rationalizing to make it perfect. Then down the backstairs to the housekeeper's room, and out through the hall again to look at the grounds and hopefully finish up at the terrace tea-room. You shut all other doors – lock them if possible – and put “Private, no entry” signs on them, and rope off the corridors to keep the punters from straying.'

‘Very neat,' said Bill. ‘But there's nothing in the housekeeper's room. It doesn't stack up to the rest of the tour.'

‘I've thought of that,' said Jenna. ‘I think the big round table should stay—'

‘Good, because it weighs a ton. I'd hate to have to move it,' said Bill.

‘We've nowhere else to put it,' Kitty added. ‘That's really why it's still there.'

‘I loved the story about the housekeeper and maids sewing round it,' Jenna said, ‘so it should stay there, with the watercolour of the scene displayed somewhere, and an explanation in the room notes. If you've got any old photographs of Victorian maids or domestic scenes, you could get them framed and set them out on the table – people love that sort of thing.'

‘I'm sure we must have, somewhere,' Kitty said.

‘What else?' said Bill. ‘One table isn't much to look at.'

‘No. What I thought was that you have stacks of china and porcelain around the house that people would love to see. My visit to the museum made me realize how popular it is. How about emptying out those mineral cabinets on the top floor, sprucing them up a bit, and putting them in the housekeeper's room, filled with a choice selection of ceramic goodies? That would give people something to look at that would take up quite a bit of their time, and having it at the end of the tour would make them feel they'd got their money's worth. We could call it the China Room.'

‘You've really thought this out, haven't you?' Bill said. ‘It sounds like a doable plan, but there must be costs involved.'

‘A few signs, which we can make ourselves and get laminated. Labels for the artefacts, ditto. A couple of those velvet ropes on stands. Mostly it's just a bit of hard work, rearranging things.'

‘And cleaning things,' Fatty said happily. ‘I do that.'

‘And there will be the room notes to do – a description of what's in the room and the interesting bits of history surrounding it. And a general one about the house's history in the hall. A dozen of each should be plenty – people read them then leave them in the room when they move on. They'll need to be laminated for durability. There's a printers in Belminster that does laminating – I spotted it when I was there last. It would be good to have an official guide book, but I've put that on the back-burner until the house is up and running, though you'll definitely need one if you're to keep going. People expect it. That means photographs and text and finding a printer willing to set it out.'

‘Well, guidebook aside, that doesn't sound too daunting,' Kitty said.

‘But—' Jenna began.

‘Here it comes,' said Bill.

‘You will need volunteers, even just to open the house, forgetting the add-ons like tea and shop.' She looked around them seriously. ‘You need someone in the hall to take the money. Someone in each of the four rooms, to keep an eye on things and answer questions. And a floating someone to take over when they want to go to the loo or have a cup of tea. Probably someone outside to supervise car parking – and I'd recommend someone patrolling the walled gardens to stop too many people nipping off bits of your plants and sticking them in their handbags.'

‘Staff,' Bill said. ‘I thought there must be a catch. That's eight people. There are only four of us.'

‘Jim would help,' Kitty said hopefully, unwilling to see the golden plan disappear.

Jenna passed over the fact that they were counting her in. ‘Eight each day,' she amended. ‘The same people might not want, or be able, to do both days. And they won't want to be doing it every weekend. You'll need a pool.'

‘What do we do? We can't employ people, or there goes the profit,' said Bill. ‘To say nothing of the complications of employment law.'

‘That's why the National Trust does it with volunteers,' Jenna said. ‘And I have been assuming, Kitty, that you will be able to rustle up enough support around the village and among your friends to get the thing started. Once it's up and running, you can cast the net wider. There are always retired people willing to do a few hours, for the sake of the company and getting out, and because they're interested in old houses and so on. But do you think you can find enough people to get started?'

Kitty was already deep in thought, mentally going through her acquaintance. ‘I'm sure I can,' she said. She looked fierce. ‘I'm determined I
will
. We
must
save Holtby, and my goodness, thirty thousand a year—!'

‘Plus anything you might get from film locations,' Jenna put in.

‘Ted Phillips – Mrs Phillips's husband – might do the car parking,' Kitty said, still thinking. ‘On one of the days, anyway.'

‘You might get a teenage boy to do it for pocket money,' Jenna suggested. ‘They like anything to do with cars.'

‘That Walton boy who's always hanging around Goomer's garage,' Jim suggested.

Fatty stood up. ‘I go make tea,' she said. ‘Much talking to do.'

While she was away, Bill and Kitty got their heads together and started to jot down the names of people who might help. The list, Jenna saw, was hearteningly long. When the tea arrived, she said, ‘There's one more idea that I haven't mentioned yet, and it doesn't really have anything to do with opening the house, but if you are going for a multiple approach to making money, I should just put it on the table along with everything else. It's produce sales. Mad Enderby was asking about your asparagus, Bill, and saying that she could sell things like that and artichokes and strawberries in her shop.'

‘I told her all the produce is Bill's,' Kitty said sharply. ‘You shouldn't have brought that up, Jenna. I told Mad at the time it was not an option, Bill.'

‘But why?' Bill said. ‘It wouldn't take much rearranging to extend those things and cut back on others. I bet she'd take baby carrots, too. And other fruit in season – plums and apples and so on. Why didn't you tell me, Kitty?'

Kitty's cheeks were pink. ‘Because they're yours, not mine. You grow them, and it was made plain from the beginning that you could do what you like with them.'

He nodded. ‘All right, suppose what I want to do with them is sell them to Mad to help keep the house going?'

‘But it's not
right
,' Kitty said.

‘Oh Kitty, if you have to sell up, what will become of us? We'll lose more than a few vegetables – we'll lose everything. If you're going to let us help you open the house, there's no sense in stopping us helping this way as well.' He turned to Jenna. ‘You were quite right to bring it up. Don't let the Dragon Lady tell you off.'

‘Dragon Lady?' Kitty said indignantly, while Fatty began to laugh, putting her fingers over her mouth.

‘I'll go and speak to Mad first thing tomorrow,' he said. ‘It's a bit late to do anything about the early produce now, but I can get her views on my tomatoes, and the autumn fruit.'

‘But you always gave the surplus away,' Kitty said. ‘What about those people?'

‘Charity begins at home,' Bill said simply. ‘They'll survive.'

Kitty went straight out on Monday morning to talk to various friends and acquaintances and ask if they'd be volunteers. Bill made a start on emptying the cabinets, prior to refurbishing them, while Jenna studied the proposed ‘open' rooms and made notes about what needed moving out and in.

Kitty came back enthused. ‘Everyone I've spoken to seems to like the idea. The vicar thinks it can only be good for the village – the shops would benefit, and the people who have holiday lets and bed and breakfasts would gain from having Holtby become better known. It's such a relief to know I wouldn't be offending people! And I've already got three volunteers – Dorothy Markham, Peggy Hayes and Agnes Dexter all said they would do it, and Agnes says her sister Marjorie, who lives in Burford, would too. And Dorothy said I should ask Mad Enderby's mother, June, because she's always interested in anything that gets her out of the house. She lives with them, you know, and it's not that they don't get on, because they're all very fond of each other, but she hasn't enough to do, and there's only so much reading one can do in a day, isn't there?'

‘That's a good start,' Jenna said cautiously. ‘Of course, you'd need a larger pool than that even to get started.'

‘Oh, I know that,' Kitty said. ‘They're just the first three people I asked, because they're my closest friends here, and it's encouraging that they all said yes. That's all I had time for this morning, but there are lots more possibles, before even thinking about the other villages around, and Belminster and beyond. Jim's going to canvass in Burford – oh, and I called in at the shop and told Xander, and asked if he knew anyone in Chidding.'

With all there was to think about, Jenna had managed to forget about the row with Xander. Her heart sank a little at the mention of him. ‘How did he take to the idea?' she asked.

‘Well, you know Xander. I didn't expect him to jump up and down, because he's always cautious, and likes to think everything through before committing himself,' Kitty said.