Page 28 of A French Inheritance

The next morning, Briony walked across the farmyard towards the artisan buildings.

Elliot’s suggestion last night that she should ask Adam about the empty one had stayed in her mind.

It would be perfect. The three individual buildings were all slightly different and the empty one looked to be the biggest of the three.

Holly was in her workshop with the door open, but Calvin had a notice pinned to his door apologising for ‘Closure Exceptional’.

As Briony approached, she could see Holly was hand-painting flowers on some plates.

She glanced up as she saw Briony. ‘ Bonjour. Lovely to see you again.’

‘Hi. You too. That’s beautiful. You’re very talented.’

‘I’m hoping the tourists will like them,’ Holly smiled.

‘Is this your only outlet?’

Holly nodded. ‘Yes, for now. In the summer, Adam puts a sign out on the road which attracts passers-by, and last year when The Cider House g?te was open for the first time, the holidaymakers staying there bought several pieces. To be honest, I don’t want too many customers as I couldn’t cope.

The idea has always been to use this place as more of a workshop, build up stock and then find outlets in town.

The downside is I could do with earning more money all year round.

But it’s really a hobby at the moment, not a proper business, so… ’ Holly shrugged.

‘Hopefully having more holidaymakers in the Stables this year will help then,’ Briony said.

‘Yes. And when the third workshop is occupied that should bring more people up here.’ Holly dipped her brush in the paint and Briony realised she was holding her up.

‘I’ll let you get on, I have to go up to the farmhouse and see Lucy. See you again soon.’

She’d rung Lucy earlier asking if she was free to come for coffee and Lucy had immediately invited her up to the farm, saying there was a cake in the oven she couldn’t leave. Briony sniffed appreciatively as she opened the kitchen door. ‘That smells good,’ she said.

‘Apple cake. There’s a slice with your name on it,’ Lucy said.

‘Have you ever thought about opening a little café up here?’ Briony asked. ‘Afternoon tea and cakes. I bet once word got around you’d be busy.’

‘A café is on the list, but I keep pushing it further and further down because it’s just another thing that would fall on me to organise and run and there aren’t enough hours in the day all ready.

But now I’ve got a Girl Friday, you never know.

’ Lucy smiled. ‘Did you want to talk about anything in particular or just wanted some company?’

‘Both really. I need to arrange insurance for my car before I can collect it later today, so was hoping you could give me a number? And you remember that idea I said I was thinking about and I’d tell you when I’d really thought it through?

Well, I was wondering whether your third empty artisan building was still up for rent?

And if it is, can I see inside it please. ’

‘It is still available for rent,’ Lucy said, cutting two slices of the apple cake. ‘Why?’

Briony took a deep breath and told tell her about her brocante idea.

‘Being my own boss really appeals and the only thing I know anything about is the world of antiques and collecting. Packing up so much of Granny’s things made me realise too that she’d been quite an astute collector.

But right now the cottage is just full of boxes and there’s more arriving from the UK in a few days.

The garage is already stuffed, so I could use some extra storage space for a few weeks even if you don’t want to rent it to me permanently. ’

As she finished speaking, Lucy gave her a worried look. ‘Does this mean you don’t want the Girl Friday job?’

‘No, of course not,’ Briony said hastily. ‘I wouldn’t let you down like that. I’ve said I’ll do the summer and I will. The brocante thing is going to take a little while to get up and running.’

‘I’ll have to run your idea past Adam, but I’m sure he’ll agree to you renting the unit and running a brocante from there,’ Lucy said.

‘If he doesn’t, we can always find you some storage space somewhere.

I really like the sound of the brocante though.

Right, let’s get your car insured. Adam is going into town this afternoon, and said to ask you, would you like him to run you in to collect it?

And check the paperwork is all in order?

He can pick you up at about three thirty? ’

‘That would be great, thank you. I’ll let Francois know. I was going to catch the bus into town and then get a taxi up to the Croix des Gardes, but a lift would be lovely and a lot quicker.’

After leaving Lucy, Briony walked home and spent some time tidying her room and the kitchen before taking the garage key off its hook and going to check on an idea she’d had.

Once in the garage, she stood as close as she could get to the bicycle hanging on the side wall.

Rusty in places, with its paint flaking off and bald tyres, it wasn’t worth repairing to use.

But cleaned, rubbed down and painted in the French colours of red white and blue, its basket on the handlebars filled with geraniums, it would make an attractive talking point outside the shop.

Frustrated because there was no way she could possibly get the bike off the wall, she closed the garage up and went back indoors.

Until she could move the boxes out of both the sitting room and the garage, there was very little she could do.

She’d have to be content with working on her plans, making to-do lists on her laptop and trying to make room somewhere in the cottage for the furniture and boxes that were due to arrive soon.

And she’d open that pot of Sunflower Yellow paint she’d bought in the supermarché and give the kitchen a makeover.

* * *

The post that morning had brought envelopes of papers from the notaire, both for her and her mother.

Briony took Jeannie’s upstairs and placed it on the dressing table in her room, ready for when she returned.

Opening her own, she found the notaire had included a list of the papers she would need to provide for various visas, as well as her new bank details.

All she had to do now was go into the bank, make herself known and sign the papers and then she could download the app onto her phone.

Her French debit card and chequebook would take about another ten days to arrive.

Before leaving England, she’d changed a substantial amount of money into euros, anticipating a need for them.

It was good to know that access to cash for day-to-day living would be available soon.

She’d drive in tomorrow to go to the bank.

She had enough cash to pay Francois from the stash she’d brought over with her from England and with what she’d taken out of the cash machine.

Once she’d signed the papers at the bank, she could transfer some of her rainy-day money into her new French euro account.

Waiting for Adam to pick her up later that afternoon, Briony resolved to try to play it cool and not immediately ask about the artisan unit. She’d barely got her seatbelt done up before Adam himself raised the subject and pointed to the large key on the dashboard.

‘Happy for you to have the last artisan unit. It’s a little bit more expensive than the other two because it’s bigger, but Lucy can give you all the nitty-gritty when you sign the lease.

We don’t have many stipulations about what you can and can’t do.

So long as you are here in France legally with a visa and everything, don’t employ anyone who isn’t, run a legit business, pay your taxes and definitely don’t sell drugs, you’re more than welcome to the unit. ’

Briony laughed. ‘Thank you. I think I can safely say I can adhere to those rules. The visa stuff will probably take a few weeks to sort, but it is already in hand. Monsieur Caumont, the notaire, has offered to help and has sent me a list of things I need to do.’

‘Lucy wants to discuss something else with you, but the unit is yours. You’d better put the key in your bag. Don’t lose it. I do have a master key for all the units, though.’

* * *

Briony drove home carefully on the wrong side of the road and continued up the road to the farm. She was positively buzzing with ideas, but first she needed to find out what Lucy needed to discuss.

Lucy came out when she heard the car. ‘How was your first drive?’

‘Bit nerve-wracking, but I’m back in one piece. Adam said you wanted to talk to me about the unit. He’s given me the key so I’m guessing I can have it, but that there’s a but?’

‘Don’t look so worried,’ Lucy said. ‘The artisan unit is yours to run as a brocante; it’s just that I have a request I hope you will agree to.’

Briony looked at her and waited, hoping the request wouldn’t be too serious or too expensive for her to agree to.

‘I would like to video you for my YouTube channel from the beginning like I did when both Calvin and Holly moved in. Tell my followers a little about yourself as you organise the space and get the business up and running and also in the future when you are open. Would you have a problem with that?’

Briony shook her head. ‘No, not at all. It would be some promotion for me too. I want to start bringing up the boxes from the cottage tomorrow. I can’t move in the sitting room. Is that the kind of activity you want to film?’

Lucy nodded. ‘Yes. I’ll film the unit empty and you carrying in the first of the stock. Only need a moment or two.’

‘Okay. It’ll be early tomorrow morning because I want to go into town by about ten o’clock.’

‘Give me a toot when you arrive and I’ll come straight over,’ Lucy said.

As Lucy went back into the farmhouse, Briony took the key out of her bag and made her way across to the artisan unit.

Holly had shut up shop and left and the closed notice on Calvin’s unit was still in place.

Unlocking the sturdy wooden door, Briony pushed it open.

Standing in the entrance, she surveyed the inside of the building for the first time.

Empty and bigger than either of the other two, Briony could see it was an ideal size.

The stone walls had all been re-pointed, the floor had beautiful Provencal terracotta tommetes and there were two light fittings hanging from the ceiling crying out for vintage chandeliers to be fitted.

It would make the perfect base and showcase for the brocante she was already visualising in her mind.

* * *

Briony was up early the next morning and pulled on some old jeans and a sweatshirt. It took her half an hour to load up the Kangoo with the boxes from the sitting room. She carefully drove up to the farm, turned onto the drive and made for the unit, giving a joyful toot-toot as she parked.

Jumping out of the car, she took the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open as Lucy arrived.

‘Morning. Are you excited?’ Lucy asked.

‘Yes.’

While Lucy took some shots of the empty building, Briony began to lift the boxes out of the car and carried them into building.

Once Lucy had filmed her carrying in half a dozen boxes, she switched the phone off and helped her carry in the rest. Finally, the Kangoo was empty and Briony closed and locked up the building.

‘Thanks for your help,’ she said to Lucy.

‘Pleasure. Want to come up to the farm for a bite of breakfast?’

‘I don’t really have the time,’ Briony said, ‘but thanks for the offer.’

‘See you tomorrow then, if not before.’

Briony drove home feeling happy. That was an hour well spent. Time for a shower followed by breakfast and then she’d brave driving Pascal into Cannes in for the first time and go to the bank and sign the papers.