Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket
battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port,
the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and
manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the
Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye
can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the
Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s,
Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins in the South East, in Mornington-By-Mere.
The Mornington village Doctors,
Dentist & Orthodontic Surgeries were an important asset to the village and the
estate.
Because Mornington was such a small village
none of the practices were open full time but Baron St George, the head of the
Mornington Estate heavily subsidized all three as well as the Small Chemist
shop, which shared the Doctors premises.
There weren’t enough patients to warrant full
time staffing so in order to make appropriate use of
the facilities the doctors surgery was made available to other practitioners in
the afternoons and evenings, such as Chiropractors, Hypnotherapists, Acupuncturists
etc. but villager Claire Pollard, a Chiropodist was the only regular, the others tended to
be a bit more sporadic in their attendance.
The Doctors, Dentists, orthodontists and
pharmacists were all based elsewhere and provided a skeleton service to the
village.
The Doctors presence was maintained by the Dancingdean Health
Centre in Shallowfield, which was how Dr Anne Jefferies came to get
to know Claire.
They
were instantly attracted to each other but neither of them were inclined to do
anything about it.
They were physically very similar, they were
both Blonde haired, pretty, tall and slender, though Claire was a bit shapelier,
not that there was a lot in it.
How they differed was that Anne was a bit
more confident, which had served her well in work and personal life and she was
never short of company, and had the pick of the girls, though she still somehow
managed to end up with the unsuitable ones.
Claire on the other hand was quieter and less confident but nonetheless
she had her share of romance, however she had recently grown
tired of the on off relationship with a girl called Julie, so she was in no hurry to get
involved again.
But
over the months their feelings changed, although Claire proved to have the
greater resolve, and stuck to her decision.
But
it didn’t stop them spending increasingly more time together, so Anne was
perfectly poised to press her cause.
But she
had to be cunning and crafty so she told Claire she had booked a three day
getaway for them both up in the village of Roespring, which was in the North of
the county, as part of Claires birthday present.
“That
will be lovely” she said “I like Roespring”
“I know
you do honey” Anne said with a leery grin on her face.
Anne
picked Claire up from Mornington early on the morning of June 20th and after
Anne wished her happy birthday they set off for their destination, although only one of them knew the actual destination
and it wasn’t Claire.
They had
a long leisurely drive mainly due to them making a regular number of stops due
to the fact that Claire had a bladder the size of a pea.
On the
last leg of the journey Claire was driving and was completely in Anne’s hands, as the latter gave directions and the
former drove.
It
was a birthday treat and Anne had planned to the last detail, none of which she
had told the birthday girl, so she drove on following every instruction.
With
each twist and turn Claire tried to guess their destination as Anne chattered
away, but in the end, she gave up and decided to just enjoy the company and the
scenery.
They
stopped at a pub in Millmoor for something to eat and they sat in the beer
garden to enjoy it, so it was well into the evening by the time they reached
the village of Roespring and it was still beautifully sunny, and Claire still wasn’t sure if that was their final destination,
until Anne shouted
“Turn
right”
“What
here?” Claire asked
“Yes”
she answered
So,
she followed her instructions and drove into the main entrance of the Stone
Circle Camp Site and Claire was immediately deflated.
“We’re
camping?”
“No,
we’re glamping” Anne retorted
“Is
that better than camping?” Claire asked doubtfully
“Oh
yes, so much better”
It
was very busy on the site as it was the Summer Solstice the next day, so all
the pagans, hippies and new age travellers had descended on the village for the
ritual greeting of the sun at the ancient Roespring Standing Stone Circle.
Claire
was still very disappointed with their location as Anne continued to direct her
around the campsite with a maze of tents either side of them.
She
had been hoping for something a bit more upmarket than spending the night under
canvas, but she couldn’t be angry as she knew that Anne meant well.
But
when they took a left at the end of the tent village and followed the lane
through a stand of trees her heart lifted because in the field beyond there was
a very different calibre of accommodations which were, half building, and half
tent, large, colourful and round.
“What
are those?” Claire asked
“Yurts”
she replied and pointed “We’re in the one at the end”
“Welcome
to glamping” Anne announced and threw open the door and let Claire go inside.
“Wow”
she exclaimed as she stepped inside, and she was astounded by what she saw.
There
was one large room containing a double bed two sofa’s, a wardrobe, chest of
drawers, a dressing table, fridge, microware and there was even a TV, and there
were silk drapes descending from the canvas above and anchoring to the sides
and gave the distinct feeling of “boudoir”.
After
she had taken in all the room had to offer Anne opened the fridge and took out
a bottle of Cava and suggested
“Let’s
get changed and sit outside and enjoy this with the last of the sun”
“Oh
lovely”
So,
they sat and in deck chairs and drank as they watched the sun go down behind
the trees and then Claire said
“Where’s
the toilet? I need to pee”
“It’s
just over there” Anne replied, pointing up the field at a red brick building
about one hundred yards away.
“That’s
the nearest one?” she exclaimed “I’ll never get there in time, I need to go
now”
“Well
go now!” Anne retorted
“Where?”
“In
the bushes”
“But
it’s dark in the bushes” she said gazing at the shrubbery “and it’s scary”
“Well
its either the scary bushes, the long walk, or wet pants” Anne said and laughed
“I’ve
got to go now” Claire said “Come with me”
“You
fraidy cat” Anne said and roared with laughter
“Come
on then”
And
they walked the short distance to the shrubbery and then Claire slowly headed
to the nearest bush to spend a penny, while Anne just stretched her legs, but
she could hear her friend peeing in the undergrowth and it was really loud
“Is
that you Claire, or is there a horse in there with you” she asked
“Hush, I’m trying to
concentrate”
“is there anything I can
help you with?” Anne offered
“No thank you, I can
manage” she snapped and then the peeing ceased, and a moment later there was a
good deal of rustling which soon escalated into muttered cursing before Claire
emerged from the bushes carrying her shoes and then she stomped straight past
Anne towards the yurt.
“I can’t believe you
couldn’t book somewhere with indoor plumbing” she muttered “I do not like
peeing in the woods”
“It was your choice” Anne
pointed out which made Claire stop in her tracks, so Anne just walked past her
and went into the yurt
“I don’t know why you would think I’d be intersested in all this hippy
dippy shit for my birthday” Claire yelled after her and when she reached the
yurt she stood in the doorway
“I didn’t
bring you here for the hippy dippy shit I brought you here to get you in this
yurt so you could enjoy the present I actually brought for you…” she said and
then as she slipped off her dress she added “me”
“Oh” Claire said as she
closed the door behind her and as she walked towards Anne she added “That puts
a different slant on things”
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