Prior to the Fletchers" arrival, Ted Wootton had grown a selection of plants in pots from cuttings to assist in the regeneration of land he had nurtured for decades. A backhoe had of necessity ripped up the lawn to prepare the site, but numerous tradesmen had shown little regard for the environment, throwing off-cuts of timber framing and plasterboard on top of shrubs and crushing smaller plants with their heavy work boots.
On moving day, Anna was appalled to discover their new home still resembled a building site. She had imagined that the rubbish would be removed and the earth levelled, at the very least. Picking her way over ridges of sun-dried soil, trying to avoid the sharp edges of abandoned roof iron and the odd puddle, she almost cried at the thought of negotiating such a degraded
