Page 76 of A Year at Appleyard Farm
Willow giggled. ‘We should really put this back into the freezer.’ She held out her hand for the spoon, which Peter offered up reluctantly.
‘Do I take it that you now like ice cream?’ she asked.
Peter ignored her. ‘So tell me what it is you want to accomplish. Really accomplish, that is. Rather than what you’re pretending, which is that you’re just fooling around making a few pots of ice cream here and there.’
Willow picked up the tub of ice cream and got up from the table without saying a word. Peter thought at first he’d upset her, but when she turned back from the freezer she had a gentle smile on her face.
‘I amsonot a businesswoman,’ she said. ‘I mean, look at me. Bare feet, plaits, and a smock. And yes, before you say it, I know I run a fruit farm, but that’s different. I don’t have to convince anyone to eat the strawberries, or gooseberries or whatever, people do it all by themselves. I don’t change the product in any way, after all, why mess with perfection? I simply grow the fruit, and people come and buy it.’
‘I’m sure it’s not quite as cut and dried as that,’ interrupted Peter. ‘You need to know what you’re doing for one thing,’ he added.
‘That’s very kind of you, but really Mother Nature does most of it.’ She paused, gathering her thoughts. ‘What I want is a business that’s sustainable all year round. I want to gather everything we have here, and take it out there…’ she waved a vague hand at the window, ‘…to people who don’t have these gorgeous things on their doorstep, who don’t get up every morning and gaze out on fields sparkling with the morning dew. Who aren’t as lucky as we are. I want to share it, but in the process I want to give our family a future, here on this land, so that it never has to become a field full of houses, or offices or a car park. That’s actually the most important thing to me, but I’m not stupid enough to think that we don’t need money to survive, or to grow, and I know people won’t want to buy the things I make just because I say they’re good. I’ll need to convince them…I just don’t know how.’
She sat down at the table with a thump. ‘I have ideas for all the things I want to make, I know how to make them. I have someone who makes packaging to put them in, and I have designs for said packaging. I just don’t have a bloody clue about what to do next. How to get it out there.’
Peter rubbed the end of his nose. ‘And this business?’ he began, ‘how big is it going to be? Are we talking about shed loads of investment? New premises? Staff?’
Willow snorted. ‘God no. Just enough for us, our family, no more. Small, selective, self-sufficient, an extension of our lives here. We have the space and if we need somewhere a little bigger to work from, there’re always the barns outside. I grow a lot of what we eat…and we can live pretty cheaply really. We don’t need masses of money…we never have.’
Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter, thought Peter, watching her expression. ‘So start-up costs are relatively small. You’ve sourced your equipment. You have a worthy range of products, now what you need is marketing and exposure, would that be right?’
Willow eyed him cautiously.
‘Only it strikes me that you have what you need right under your nose, and I’m wondering why you haven’t asked him.’
Peter might be mistaken, but he thought he detected a slight blush at his words.
‘Ask who?’ replied Willow. ‘Oh, do you mean you? That would be perfect, Peter, I—’
He held up his hand. ‘No, I don’t mean me…although I do almost have a degree in Business and Management. I meant Jude actually. He’s a salesman, isn’t he?’
‘Well, not really,’ frowned Willow. ‘That makes it sound like he sells double glazing…not that there’s anything wrong with that of course,’ she added quickly. ‘But what Jude does is a bit different. He sells land, huge farms, estates, I mean he even sold an island once. He has a very specialist knowledge, and…’ She caught sight of Peter’s stony expression and ground to a halt. ‘Yes, at the end of the day I guess he is a salesman,’ she accepted.
‘So what’s the problem, Willow?’ asked Peter softly. ‘Why won’t you talk to him about any of this? And don’t say it’s because it’s a stupid idea and he wouldn’t want to be bothered with it.’
‘Okay then, I won’t.’
‘I’m trying to help here you know, and yes, I do have some ideas about how you could market and develop the business, but you and I both know I’m not the solution. I’m only here until October and then I go back to uni, so what use would I be then? What you need is a proper partner in the business who can help you longer term. Jude might be busy, but surely he’d see the value in what you’re doing? He’d be proud, wouldn’t he? He’d want to help?’
Willow bit her lip. ‘I know you’re right. But I also know that Jude is a stickler for detail and he never goes after anything if it doesn’t feel right, if the numbers don’t stack up. I have to present this whole thing as a viable business, up and running, with a business plan, forecasts, and projections if he’s ever going to take any notice of it. Otherwise he’ll discount it out of hand.’
‘Okay, I get that, but what’s the problem; you’ll have all that soon.’
Peter stared at her, waiting for a reply, watching while she took a calming breath.
‘I trust you and I need your help, Peter, but if I tell you why I can’t say anything to Jude at the moment, you have to promise me you won’t repeat it. I haven’t told a soul about this, not properly anyway.’
His normally pale complexion coloured quickly. ‘Willow, how can I possibly do that when I don’t know what it is you’re going to say? It could put me in an untenable position.’
‘I know, and I shouldn’t ask, but I need your help.’ She raised her hands in a helpless gesture. ‘There’s nothing more I can say. Once you know and understand why I feel the way I do, you can’t unknow it. It has to be your decision. I’m not going to try and convince you.’
Peter had never been in such a position before. Sure he’d had friends tell him secrets, who hadn’t, but this was different. From what he could see, Willow and Jude had a happy marriage, but if there was something that Willow felt she needed to keep secret from her husband, then it must be important. The other night while he’d waited with Jude for news about Beth, he had heard Jude’s soft words about his wife, affectionate words, caring words; a loving inflection in his voice that could never be faked. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear anything that might call that into question.
Willow had said she wouldn’t try to persuade him and, as he looked at her downcast face, he realised that unwittingly perhaps he had led them to this point. He couldn’t blame her now for trying to explain when that was what he had asked her to do. He liked Willow. He loved her business and the way she lived her life, and now she was asking for his help.
‘Go on,’ he said slowly. ‘What is it you need to say?’
She gave a nervous smile. ‘You’re going to think I’m an absolute nutter, but to be fair you wouldn’t be the first…’ She took another deep breath. ‘I see things sometimes…or feel things. Things which I know other people don’t see or feel, but which give me a particular insight into a situation that’s happening now…or in the future.’ She glanced out of the window as if drawing strength from the view. ‘Have you ever walked down our lane in the other direction, up towards Fallowfield?’ she asked. ‘The house just past the huge horse chestnut?’
