Page 22 of Rough Around the Hedges

Alan snorted. “That’s the spirit, Rose.”

“What do we do, then? Changing his mind is going to be difficult. Has he signed the contract with the developer yet?” Richard asked. “If so, that’ll render any protests of ours moot.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I need to meet with the duke regarding the notice period, so I’ll find out more then. Other than that, I’m not sure where we should begin with protesting the closure.”

Leah held up her hand. “I have a friend who recently moved to work for a local news station in Exeter. She might not be able to televise a report, but she could help us with media coverage. Maybe put us in contact with someone who could help locally.”

“Ooh!” Craig clapped his hands together. “Now that you mention it, Leah, I did read a story similar to our situation a while back. I don’t remember the nitty-gritty details, but the landowner was a member of the aristocracy, and he was closing the allotments for a similar reason. When the residents protested, he raised the fees until nobody could afford them.”

“Eviction by stealth.” Richard shook his head. “How underhanded.”

“Exactly. The locals went to the media, and he was forced to back down.”

“What happened?” Deb asked.

“I believe the local council purchased the land from him and kept the site open,” Craig said.

I wrinkled up my nose. “I would prefer not to rely on those useless farts at the town council if we can help it.”

“It was the local authority rather than a small town council.” Craig paused. “But I’m not sure that’s such an upgrade, either.”

It was not, if we judged those shills by how many potholes there were and how much our council tax went up each year.God only knew where that money was going, because it wasn’t on the bloody potholes.

Did I have a vendetta against potholes?

The real question here was why somebody wouldn’t.

“Is it possible to raise funds to purchase the land on behalf of the committee?” Alan asked. “If the locals came together, surely we could offer for the land ourselves.”

I looked at Colin. “Mr Estate Agent?”

“Retired estate agent,” he corrected me, pulling his lips into a thin line. “Without knowing what the housing developer is offering, it would be very hard for us to know if we could counter it. Needless to say, land is not as cheap as one would think, especially agricultural land. It could be, and likely is, far beyond our means. We would have to pay cash, and I doubt we could do that.”

Richard slowly nodded. “I, too, have my doubts about the possibility of being able to raise the capital needed to purchase the land. A friend of mine recently sold four acres to the neighbouring farm and it was upwards seventy-five thousand pounds, and that land wasn’t nearly as valuable as the plot we occupy.”

We all stared at him.

Seventy-five grand?

Holy shit.

“Well, fuck,” Leah said.

“Well, fuck, indeed,” George followed up.

There was really nothing else to add to such succinct responses to the situation.

Everyone offered slow, gentle nods of their head in agreement, and we were back to the heavy, sombre atmosphere of before.

“Well, for now, let’s see where we stand after I meet with Mr de Havilland,” I said, taking the folder Colin was pushing towards me. “I think it would be good to begin exploring our options with the media, though. Leah, can I ask you to take the lead on that if it won’t take too much time away from your kids?”

She winked and shot me a thumbs up. “I’m counting on it doing just that. Their dad can deal with their teenage bickering for once.”

“That’s the spirit, dear,” Lisa said, bobbing her head. “Personally, I used to hide in the wardrobe with a bottle of liquor while they fought until one of them beat the other down and they were forced to admit defeat.”

Yup.

That sounded like every family gathering I’d ever had.

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