Spring Blossoms at Mill Grange

stop the fear he’d heard Thea utter at least once a week since Landscape Treasures had asked her to appear as their Roman expert for the next series’ opening episode, Shaun said, ‘You got the job because you are good at it. End of. Now, if you put all the clothes you want to take on the bed, I’ll finish packing them so you can go and say goodbye to Tina and Helen. Go to Sybil’s or something. It’ll be a while before you have a scone as good as one from her café.’
*
‘There is something rather delicious about sneaking off for morning coffee on a work day.’ Tina raised her coffee cup in salute to Thea and Helen as they waited for Sybil to deliver a round of her famous cheese scones.
 ‘I ought to be scraping a ton of mud off the shovels ready for the new guests this afternoon,’ Helen dropped a sugar cube into her mug, ‘but I can live with the guilt.’
Looking at her two friends across the Spode covered, table, Thea smiled. ‘I’m going to miss you two.’
‘You’re only going for eight weeks. Anyway, you’ll be far too busy being famous to miss the likes of us,’ Helen gave her a friendly nudge, ‘and too knackered from all the digging to notice the time passing.’
Thea laughed, ‘The famous bit I doubt, the knackered bit I can’t argue with. I ache enough after a day helping you and Tom on our fortlet, these days. A full eight week dig with television cameras watching my every move is going to kill me.’
‘Don’t be daft.’ Tina looked up as Sybil arrived at their table, ‘I swear your scones smell more delicious every time we come in here.’
Sybil rolled her eyes, ‘Praise indeed seeing as at least one of you – Thea – is here every other day testing the merchandise.’
Thea stuck out her tongue. ‘Well, the chicken’s eggs need delivering. It would be rude to walk all this way and not sample the goods.’
‘It’s a twenty-minute walk! You make it sound like you need Kendal Mint Cake and crampons!’
‘I’m going to miss your cooking almost as much as I’ll miss you, Sybil.’
Picking up a large paper bag from where she’d placed it on the next table, the café owner passed it to Thea. ‘Well, these should keep you going for a while at least.’
Having peeped inside the top of the bag, Thea got up and gave Sybil a hug. ‘Thank you.’
‘I didn’t want Shaun to go without my scones either.’
‘Shaun?’ Thea laughed. ‘If you think a bag of your scones will last long enough to share with him, you are under a serious misconception!’
Watching Sybil skip off to her next customer, Thea was suddenly emotional. She was only going away to work for a while, and she was going with the man she loved, yet it felt as if she was leaving Mill Grange for good.
Cradling the warm paper bag, Thea realised with a start that it had been almost a year since she’d first arrived at the manor house where she, Tina, Sam, Helen, Tom and Shaun – when he wasn’t away filming – lived. Along with their friends, Mabel and Bert, they ran the manor as a retreat for former military personnel recovering from various injuries and debilitating experiences. Part of that recovery therapy included working on uncovering a Roman Fortlet that she and Shaun had found in the manor’s garden.
The excavation, a rare find for Exmoor, an area of Britain which the Romans had hardly touched, was a popular choice of work for Mill Grange’s visitors. In fact, it was so much in demand that, now the digging of the site was almost complete, they’d set up a fake dig so that their visitors could still learn archaeological techniques during their stay.
Having worked for years as an archaeologist and historian at the Roman Baths in Bath alongside Helen, Thea was finding the dual challenges of running a manor house, being host to guests, and co-managing a dig, immensely rewarding. So why am I going to the Cotswolds to be a TV presenter?
‘Thea? Are you with us?’ Tina pushed a plate in her friend’s direction. ‘Your scone has been sat in front of you for over thirty seconds and you haven’t pounced.’
‘I just realised it’s a year since I first came to Mill Grange to help do the place up.’
‘Oh my goodness! Already? We should celebrate!’ Tina raised her cup in salute. ‘So much has happened since then.’
‘Including your engagement to Sam!’ Thea cut her scone in half, inhaling the rich aroma of vintage cheese and cayenne pepper. ‘I feel awful for not being around to help you arrange it.’
‘Don’t worry, Sam and I intend to keep things very simple.’
‘Simple sounds good,’ Thea tilted her head to one side, ‘but is that what you want or what Sam wants? I remember a Tina Martin who wanted to get married in satin lace and diamonds at Westminster Abbey.’
‘I wasn’t quite that bad. I’d have settled for St Paul’s Cathedral.’
Helen’s eyebrows rose. ‘I can’t imagine you wanting an all-the-trimmings type wedding Tina.’
‘Before I met Sam, I was a bit lost bloke wise. Couldn’t see the kind hearts for the gold cufflinks.’ Tina happily scooped up some extra butter. ‘A marquee on the lawn at Mill Grange, with all our friends and Sam’s family will suit us just fine.’
‘With Sam’s claustrophobia, that sounds wise. How is that now?’ Thea dabbed up a stray scone crumb. ‘I know he sleeps in the downstairs bedroom when we don’t have guests with mobility issues, but is there any progress on him facing the stairs and the attics yet?’
Tina shook her head, her mouth too full to speak.
‘He’ll get there, you’ll see.’
‘He will,’ Helen agreed. ‘Got a date sorted for the wedding yet?’
‘I wanted a May date so we can have a couple more months to concentrate on getting the retreat running on track, plus the gardens here look wonderful in late