The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer

by Martin, Holly

  He smiled. She had so much energy and enthusiasm. He didn’t know whether to burst her bubble now or later. Maybe he’d start the ball rolling.

  ‘We don’t get too many visitors here.’

  ‘Yeah, Dorothy was saying she doesn’t get many customers in her painting shop. But I find that hard to believe. That big old castle, the cute little village, no one wants to see that?’

  ‘The village isn’t that cute right now.’

  ‘True,’ Willow said. ‘But it could be. And I know the castle is crumbling away but I bet people would still want to come and see it. Castles are big draws. Is it open to the public?’

  ‘No, not really.’

  ‘Well, maybe that’s another thing I can talk to Kitty and Ken about. Bringing visitors to the castle would also bring them to the village, and if nothing else it would be good custom for the pub, even if it doesn’t bring any visitors to my shop.’

  He marvelled at her spirit – it would not be dulled no matter what.

  ‘The castle is not in a good shape. Kitty and Ken are basically living in the old servants’ quarters and the rest of the place is falling into ruin,’ Andrew said.

  ‘But people love castles. Kenilworth Castle in the Midlands is largely just a few old walls and turrets, it hasn’t been lived in for hundreds of years, and people still flock there in their thousands. If they open it to the public, regardless of the state it’s in, people will come.’

  He pulled the quad bike to a stop next to Ken’s Range Rover and turned off the engine.

  ‘You really are a glass-brimming-over kind of girl, aren’t you?’

  She clambered off the back and he climbed off too.

  ‘Better that than be the glass-half-empty kind. What type are you?’

  He thought about that for a moment. ‘Probably three-quarters full. All the good stuff is still there, but room for a little improvement.’

  ‘I’ll take that.’

  She looked up at the castle, and he wondered what she saw. Up close it really was in a sorry state but she certainly didn’t seem to be put off by it.

  ‘So what was going on this morning with Dorothy and the cake?’ Andrew asked. ‘Why not just tell her that you left it for her?’

  ‘Did you see how excited she was about the mystery of who it could be? I didn’t want to take that away from her,’ Willow said.

  ‘But now you’ve encouraged her to think that it was Joseph.’

  ‘She was thinking that before I came along and a little harmless matchmaking won’t hurt.’

  ‘It will if Joseph doesn’t feel the same way. She’ll end up embarrassed,’ Andrew said.

  ‘Dorothy doesn’t seem the type that would embarrass that easily. I have an idea, actually. Maybe you can help me with it.’

  Andrew pulled the huge five-page list from his pocket. ‘I’m a bit busy with the last idea you wanted help with.’

  She laughed. ‘Oh shush, as if all of that was my fault.’

  ‘Go on then, tell me your wonderful idea,’ Andrew said, dryly, as if he was less than thrilled about anything she was going to suggest. But the truth was he could listen to her talk all day and not get bored of it.

  She didn’t take him remotely seriously.

  ‘I’ll tell you later, it’ll be something for you to look forward to. Besides, I want to meet Kitty and Ken.’

  She moved off towards the door and he rolled his eyes as he shoved the list back in his pocket. But an idea suddenly sparked to life. ‘Wait, before we go in, you need to know that you’re expected to curtsey to them.’

  She turned to look at him in shock. ‘Are you kidding? You said they were lovely.’

  ‘They are but you know, they’re royalty, and they’re a bit old-fashioned like that.’

  ‘They’re royalty? I’ve never heard of a Princess Kitty before,’ Willow said, doubtfully.

  ‘Kitty is actually Lady Katherine, the Queen’s third cousin and I believe thirty-fifth in line to the throne.’

  She stared at him. ‘Are you serious? Oh my god, I’ve never met royalty before.’ She looked down at what she was wearing in horror. ‘Why didn’t you tell me, I would have got changed.’

  He bit his lip. ‘It’s fine, they really are rather normal.’

  ‘Apart from that they live in a castle and like people to bow and curtsey to them.’

  ‘Well, yes, apart from that. Come on, let me introduce you to them.’

  He opened the door and let her go ahead into the large kitchen. He stepped inside after her, ducking his head to get through the door. Willow held back for a moment.

  Kitty and Ken were both sitting at the table reading. Ken looked every inch the royal lord with his splendid red waistcoat and walrus moustache. They both looked up as they entered and smiled at him.

  Ken spotted Willow and shot out of his seat to greet her.

  ‘Kitty, Ken, this is Willow McKay who arrived a few days ago.’

  Ken held his hand out to greet her and Willow took it and duly bobbed into a perfect curtsey. She was going to kill him for this.

  ‘My Lord,’ Willow said, clearly having watched films like Pride and Prejudice too many times.

  Ken looked flummoxed for a moment. Kitty stared in shock, and Beryl, the housekeeper and cook, let the mug she was washing up clatter back into the bowl, sending little bubbles flying through the air.

  Andrew’s shoulders were shaking from suppressed laughter as Kitty stood up and came round the table towards them.

  ‘Oh you rogue, Andrew Harrington,’ Kitty said, shaking her head fondly. She turned her attention back to Willow. ‘Did he tell you that you had to curtsey to us?’

  Willow straightened, dropping Ken’s hand in confusion. ‘Yes, on account of you being royalty.’

  Ken chortled. ‘Royalty, eh? Now that would be nice.’

  ‘You’re not Lady Katherine?’ Willow said.

  ‘Oh no, although that does have a nice ring to it. Beryl, I might start getting you to call me that from now on,’ Kitty said.

  Beryl snorted. ‘You know what you can do if you think I’m going to start walking round here with airs and graces.’

  Willow looked up at Andrew. ‘You were winding me up?’

  The laughter burst out of him and he wiped his eyes. ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.’

  Willow’s cheeks flushed bright red and then she smiled and started laughing too. ‘Oh, is that how it’s going to be? I’m going to get you back for that.’

  Andrew couldn’t contain his laughter. ‘Of that, I have no doubt.’

  ‘Willow, let’s start again, I’m Kitty and this is my husband Ken, it’s lovely to finally meet you.’

  ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Ken asked, going to the kettle.

  ‘Oh yes please,’ Willow said, as Kitty held a chair out for her to sit down at the table.

  ‘And Beryl made a delicious chocolate cake this morning, would you like a slice?’ Kitty said.

  ‘I can see I’m going to get fat while living here,’ Willow said as Andrew sat down opposite her. ‘I had a slice of Andrew’s rhubarb cake last night and it was amazing. But I’ve always got room for chocolate cake.’

  Kitty removed the cake from the tin and cut off a big slice as Ken made a pot of tea. Andrew smiled as he watched them; they were about as far removed from royalty as you could get.

  ‘What do you think of Sunrise Cottage?’ Kitty asked, placing the plate in front of Willow as she sat back down at the table.

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Willow said, taking a huge bite. ‘Very cute, small but the perfect size for me and that view is incredible.’

  ‘Andrew worked so hard on the house to get it ready for you,’ Kitty said, smiling at him.

  ‘And what do you think of the village?’ Ken asked, hopefully, as he brought the tea to the table.

  Willow glanced briefly at Andrew, obviously wondering what she should say. ‘It… has a rustic charm.’

  He smiled at her. You couldn’t just walk into some
one’s home and start insulting their back garden and she knew that.

  Although Kitty could see right through that. ‘It’s a bit sad and tatty right now, but it has potential.’

  ‘Oh, it has so much potential,’ Willow said, sitting straight, her eyes lighting up. ‘It could be a wonderful place to live again. It just needs a bit of TLC. Well OK, a lot.’

  She glanced over at Andrew again and gave him an encouraging nod.

  He took a deep breath. ‘That’s what we wanted to talk to you about actually. We have sixteen days until the open day and we want this place to shine. I can’t do everything that needs to be done on my own.’

  Kitty nodded. ‘Of course, we’re going to be placing an ad in the local newspaper this week to get you an assistant.’

  Andrew cringed inwardly. ‘I’m afraid it needs more than that.’

  Kitty and Ken exchanged glances. ‘How much more?’

  Andrew smoothed out the list of jobs on the table and then spread the sheets out so they could see the sheer quantity of it all.

  ‘Quite a lot.’

  ‘But we also have some ideas to help you and the village, financially,’ Willow said, excitedly.

  Andrew smiled at her enthusiasm. He kind of felt like they were playing the roles of good cop, bad cop. He would upset them with the list of everything that needed doing and the expense and she would temper that with her sparkly infectious exuberance.

  Ken leaned over to look at the sheets of paper. ‘Come on then, let’s see what we’ve got.’

  Nine

  ‘And you know someone who can do all of this?’ Ken said as he glanced again at the total figure of what it was going to cost.

  Willow felt bad for Kitty and Ken. It was quite obvious they had clearly underestimated how big this project was when they took it on.

  ‘Yes, I know a good team that can take care of the bulk of it,’ Andrew said. ‘I can see what their availability is like. I know they’ve just finished one project. But they may have other jobs lined up. To complete the whole list will take several months, but if we can get Jack and his team to come in and spend a few weeks doing the surface-level stuff, at least it will help the village look good for the open day, even if the underneath isn’t quite so shiny. I know a good landscape gardening team too. Oli and Tom can take care of the aesthetics on that side of things.’

  Ken sighed and then nodded. ‘OK, we’ll let you take care of arranging all that. Let me know if you need any money up front.’

  ‘I will.’

  Ken looked utterly deflated and Willow wanted to come round the table and give him a big hug.

  ‘Why did you buy the castle and village?’ Willow asked gently, wondering if living in a castle had been the lure and the village had been this millstone around his neck.

  ‘My dad was born and raised here, lived here until he was around twenty-five and he always used to tell me these stories of how wonderful it was, the cosy community spirit. Later, when he got older, he talked about how he wanted to move back here. We brought him down not long before he died and he was just so happy as he reminisced about his life here, but he said how everything had changed now and how it wasn’t the same place any more. But I could see how much potential it had, how it could be great again.’

  Kitty smiled with love for her husband. ‘Ken has always had a kind heart and a soft spot for underdog projects.’

  Ken smiled at her. ‘Me and Kitty, well, we’ve been very fortunate in our life. We’ve made some very good business decisions over the years, made the right deals with the right people and in some cases just got very lucky. When we heard that the village and castle were for sale at a ridiculously cheap price, considering what we were actually getting, well, we wanted to help. We wanted to bring the village back to life again, to how my dad remembered it. There were a number of companies that wanted to buy the land and probably raze it to the ground and build a bunch of faceless identical red-brick houses or great big blocks of flats. We couldn’t let that happen. Although it’s safe to say we didn’t realise the extent of the renovation project when we took it on. But I guess we’ll do whatever it takes.’

  Willow smiled at his determination to make it work.

  ‘I had an idea about how you could bring some money in, maybe help cover the costs in some small way.’

  Ken brightened a little. ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘I thought you could open the castle to the public.’

  Ken’s smile fell off his face. ‘I don’t think that’s a viable option, it’s in quite a state. Plus it has no historic significance, it didn’t belong to any royalty. In fact I would be very surprised if any royalty or nobility even visited, there were no great battles or anything important that happened here. I don’t think any of the historic organisations would be interested in managing it for us.’

  ‘But it’s a castle, people love castles,’ Willow said, not to be deterred. ‘Even the old tatty ones. Would you give me a tour?’

  Ken stared at her for a moment, weighing it up, before getting to his feet. ‘Come on then. I think you’ll change your mind when you see it.’

  He’d clearly decided that the easiest option would be to go along with Willow’s suggestion, at least for now.

  Willow shot to her feet, eager to explore. ‘Andrew, you coming?’

  ‘Oh yes, I haven’t actually seen much of it yet. I’ve been too busy down in the village. I’d love to have a look.’

  ‘You see, people will be interested in it,’ Willow said.

  Kitty got up too and linked hands with her husband.

  ‘It’s quite small really, despite its stature,’ Ken said, pushing a door open on the other side of the kitchen and Willow followed him into a stone corridor. ‘I think it was more of a folly than used for any kind of fortification purposes. As far as I can tell it’s only a few hundred years old, which is very young in comparison to other castles. And this one wasn’t built to last.’

  ‘Do you know a lot about its history?’

  ‘Not really,’ Kitty said. ‘The first mention of it we can find is in the mid-1700s, although it was possible it was around before that. It changed names many times over the years, almost as many times as it changed owners. The first owner, we think, was Charles Archer but we don’t know anything about him and it wasn’t passed down through his family.’

  Ken pushed open a large wooden door. ‘This is the great hall.’

  Willow eagerly followed them in but felt her excitement deflate a little when she saw a gaping hole in one of the walls. In fact there were several holes and walls falling down. There was no furniture or pictures or tapestries on the walls – the room was no more than a shell. Great hall was a bit of an exaggeration.

  ‘The previous owners stripped out and sold anything of value,’ Ken said. ‘There’s not a lot left. There are also places where they tried to make renovations, very badly, and then either ran out of money or patience. That far wall with the majority of the holes in, I think the owner wanted to make the hall into a large garage for all his cars and figured he’d just knock down the outer wall so he could park in here.’

  ‘What?’ Willow said incredulously.

  ‘Yes, the previous owners were less than respectful,’ Ken shook his head, sorrowfully.

  ‘Are all the rooms like this?’ Willow asked.

  ‘Some of them are not this bad, but yes, pretty much the whole place is in disrepair. The north tower has completely collapsed.’

  ‘Come on, show me the rest.’

  They walked from room to room with Ken reeling off some historical fact or nugget about the architecture or how the rooms were used. It was just as he had said though, the building was in a terrible state.

  They walked back to the kitchen and Willow sat back down at the table again.

  ‘Still think we can open it to the public?’ Ken said.

  ‘Yes, I still see potential here. Kids love climbing over ruins, they will enjoy running from room to room pretending they are a
knight or a king or queen, regardless what state it is in. I think the first thing is to get some people in to assess how safe it is and there may be some places, like the north tower, that you have to close off to the public for safety reasons. You’ll also need some public liability insurance. And a website advertising your castle, but a good website designer could come up with something snazzy. You could even run some Facebook adverts fairly cheaply. Again, someone internet savvy could set them up for you.’

  Kitty and Ken stared at her with wide eyes.

  ‘I also think, even though you don’t know a lot about the castle’s history, you do know quite a bit about the architecture of the place and some great general historic knowledge that you’ve been telling me as we’ve been walking around. You could spend some time writing up these little facts and putting them on display cards around the castle to provide a little historical context of each room. The stuff you told me about the still room was fascinating. While the kids are running riot around the castle, the parents might find those little snippets interesting.’

  ‘Oh, no one is going to be interested in my waffle,’ Ken tried to shrug it off.

  ‘Of course they will,’ Kitty said, defensively.

  ‘Kitty’s right, people will love it, and I bet you could do a bit more research for some of the other rooms too.’

  Ken nodded. ‘I could do that.’

  ‘Bringing visitors to the castle would bring in a small amount of money to help with the restoration of the village but also it would bring life to the village and much-needed custom to the shops and the pub too. Andrew is taking care of the village for you, I think the castle could be your new underdog project.’