Read Online Sowing Secrets by Trisha Ashley - Free Book Online Page A

your heritage.’
    ‘Yes, but Fran’s right. It was all walled off with the glen and it’s
part
of it now,’ he objected. ‘And it would cost a fortune to restore. I’m more concerned with hanging on to Plas Gwyn itself.’
    ‘But we don’t want more weekenders buying it and stopping us walking in the glen,’ Nia said firmly, which is something that I hate the thought of too: it’s such a special place to both of us, and seemingly
vital
to whatever Nia does up there. (This involves a robe, a strange little knapsack and a long staff and, just once, some kind of interment – but I’ve decided not to speculate on that one … too much. Now I just turn and creep away if she’s there.)
    ‘I think the glen is a burden the estate doesn’t need,’ Rhodri said stubbornly. ‘And there’s enough garden around the house to restore without it.’
    ‘There’s no garden around the house,’ I said. ‘It’s all grass and trees. How on earth can you restore
that
, Rhodri?’
    ‘Ah, but there
was
a garden once – and, what’s more, I’ve written to Gabriel Weston and he’s considering putting Plas Gwyn on the shortlist for his next TV restoration! What do you think of
that
?’
    ‘Oh my God!’ I said despairingly as my heart came into sudden collision with my ribcage before dropping into my boots, potted in one. ‘Are
all
my vultures coming home to roost?’
    ‘I thought you kept hens?’ he said, puzzled. ‘You’re not keeping birds of prey now, are you, Fran?’
    ‘You did say Gabriel Weston?’ demanded Nia.
    ‘Yes. Have you seen his series,
Restoration Gardener
?’
    ‘Well, would you Adam-and-Eve it!’ she said, turning to exchange an incredulous glance with me.
    ‘What?’ Rhodri said, puzzled.
    I gathered my wits together. ‘It’s just that by a strange coincidence we watched a short DVD with clips of the series last night and saw him for the first time. Don’t forget, Rhodri, that the TV reception is impossible here unless you’ve got a satellite dish.’
    ‘You’re right, I had forgotten,’ he agreed. ‘And you haven’t got satellite?’
    ‘No, but we don’t watch much TV anyway.’
    ‘Just endless
Buffy
DVDs,’ pointed out Nia. ‘You’re addicted.’
    ‘Well, Carrie’s addicted to
Sex and the City
, and you don’t seem to mind watching either of them when we have one of our girls’ nights in.’
    ‘No, but I haven’t got a DVD player,’ Nia said. ‘
I
haven’t got time to sit about glued to the box – and neither have you,’ she added pointedly to Rhodri. ‘We’re both divorced and broke, and had better get on with making a living.’
    ‘What were you saying about this Gabriel Weston, Rhodri? We seem to have side-tracked,’ I said innocently, ‘and we don’t know much about him.’
    ‘Well, he’s appeared on various things over the last few years, but now he presents this really popular show called
Restoration Gardener
. He chooses a house that once had a special garden and surveys it, researches family documents and stuff, then draws plans to recreate what was there. Then his team spends a few weeks restoring part of it, at the programme’s expense. They often go back and see how the earlier ones are getting on too. It’s really interesting.’
    ‘And they might do Plas Gwyn?’ I asked, impressed despite my personal disinclination to have Adam delving anywhere in my Eden.
    ‘I don’t know – I sent in photos and details and told them there were lots of family documents, and I’ve just heard it’s being seriously considered. Though of course that’s only the first step, because even if it gets on the shortlist it still has to win the TV vote-off. But it would be wonderful if it did – and even more wonderful to have garden features again at Plas Gwyn other than a lot of grass and trees!’
    ‘There’s certainly nothing much there now,’ I agreed. ‘Apart from the turf maze, and even that’s getting hazy around the edges, because hardly anyone ever