Chapter 12
As they came to a halt a very tall, slightly stooping man with white hair emerged from behind a twisted yew tree, his hand held out in greeting.
‘Donald, hello.’
‘Your Grace,’ said Donald, giving a brief nod, which seemed to be both a greeting and a very slight bow in recognition of his title. The man, however, rolled his eyes heavenward with a crooked half-smile, which immediately put Gabe at ease.
‘Felix,’ said the man, shaking Gabe’s outstretched hand. ‘Please don’t stand on ceremony.’
After a brief chat about the weather, which Gabe had learned was even more of a pre-occupation here in the Highlands than it was anywhere else in the United Kingdom, the duke invited them inside for tea in the library.
‘If we’re going to have a look at these plans, we might as well do it comfortably.’
Donald grabbed the maps, and the duke spotted the dogs, insisting that they come inside and join them.
Gabe had never been inside a castle before. He’d have predicted suits of armour and huge tapestry hangings on the wall, along with ancient oil paintings of long-dead members of the family – and he was amused to discover that Lochbrannich House was everything he’d imagined, with the addition of countless stags’ heads stuffed and hung from the wall. What he hadn’t expected was for the place to look very much lived-in, with an untidy row of muddy wellington boots by the door, a pile of unopened post on a table in the huge hall, and coats and hats hung higgledy-piggledy on a wooden rack by the huge staircase.
‘Come through, make yourselves at home.’
Stanley dashed around, sniffing everything, returning to look at Gabe with a slightly wild look in his eye. Even Bess had been roused from her habitual torpor and gave a bark, wagging her tail in greeting as a tiny rocket of a Jack Russell hurtled down the corridor barking and stopped dead in front of them, surprising everyone by rolling over in submission as Stanley sniffed hello.
‘Moss,’ explained the duke fondly. ‘He’s very sweet, but he’s not all there, if you ask me. Terrible guard dog, even worse ratter.’
He waved them into a bright room filled with books and two huge sofas which sat on either side of an open fireplace where flames danced merrily. Moss hopped up onto one of the sofas and circled before collapsing with a happy groan. The other two dogs pottered around, getting their bearings.
‘Have a seat,’ said the duke. ‘I’ll be back in two ticks.’
He returned a few minutes later with a tray, surprising Gabe who’d expected him to have a butler or a maid at the very least. But the duke himself poured out three cups of tea, offered round a plate of shortbread biscuits, and then sat down on the armchair opposite.
‘So as you know, Donald, my desire is to leave something of consequence when I pop off, whenever that might be. We’ve done more than enough damage to the environment, and if I can put something back before I go, and get the wheels in motion, then I’ll be a happy man.’
‘That sounds like a good idea,’ said Donald, shaking his head and refusing a second piece of shortbread. ‘That reminds me, we’ve left the maps out in the car.’
‘I’ll go and get them,’ said Gabe, jumping to his feet. ‘Wait,’ he said, raising a finger in warning to Stanley, who had settled at his feet and raised a furry eyebrow in query. Stan hefted a sigh, but obediently didn’t move an inch. ‘Excuse me two moments.’
Gabe gave a sigh that was even bigger as he stepped out of the room.
‘Everything alright?’
A tall woman with mouse-brown hair swept off her forehead with a velvet headband was standing in the hallway, watching him with amusement. She was dressed in riding clothes, her long legs clad in cream-coloured jodhpurs and a navy gilet, which was dusted with white horse hairs.
‘Yes, just popping out to get some paperwork.’ He tipped his head in the direction of the library door. ‘I’m here with Donald Grant.’
‘Ah, the forestry people. Arabella Roxburgh,’ she said, extending a hand, expectantly.
Gabe, cursing himself inwardly for having probably committed some sort of faux pas by not bowing, shook her hand politely and then stood for a second, not sure if he was supposed to wait until she left the room before he did, or if he could carry on with his mission to collect the maps from the truck.
‘I’ll let you get on,’ she said a moment later, her mouth twitching with amusement.
‘Thanks.’
Gabe shot outside and grabbed the maps, returning to the library without incident to discover Donald and the duke were already studying an identical map which was framed and hanging on the wall behind his desk.
‘Just explaining to Donald that what we want to do is fence here –’ he pointed to an area near the loch – ‘and plant a new forest of broadleaf trees, which hopefully won’t be devoured by deer if we can get the fencing secure enough. And I want to try to repair the peatland where it’s been destroyed, as well as creating some sort of volunteer planting scheme where people can come along and help us out, which of course is going to mean building a rather large bothy, as well.’
‘That all sounds excellent,’ said Donald.
‘I’ve been reading about the rewilding projects, and the effect they’re having on the countryside and on nature.’ Gabe glanced for a moment out of the window at the still waters of the loch. ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen the research that they’ve done into the effects of returning wolves to the ecosystem in Yellowstone and how much of an impact it had.’
‘Oh yes!’ The duke looked delighted. ‘This chap knows his stuff,’ he added, giving a nod to Donald. ‘Yes, it’s excellent, isn’t it? I think we’re a way off bringing wolves to the Highlands – although it would solve our damn deer problem, mind you – but I think it illustrates the point perfectly. Shall we head out and have a look around?’
The duke took the lead, and Donald gave Gabe a fleeting thumbs up gesture as he followed him out of the room.
‘Hop into my old jalopy,’ said the duke, leading them around the side of the huge house to where an utterly filthy Land Rover stood under the shade of another broad yew tree. ‘Bring the dogs, they’ll enjoy it. Moss, come on.’ He whistled and the little Jack Russell appeared, jumping into his lap as he settled in the driving seat.
Gabe sat behind the two men with the dogs by his side as they set off down a track which led through the woods behind the house and up into a clearing.
‘This is where I’m thinking we can start the planting, and then we can fence round here…’ They drove on ‘… and put the wooden cabins up here, where they can look out over the glen when they wake up in the morning and have their cup of tea.’
A couple of hours later, having driven far into the vast Lochbrannich Estate, Gabe had a much better picture of the scale of the project they were looking at.
‘So, as you can see, I have big plans.’
The duke pulled up the Land Rover outside Lochbrannich House and opened the door to let Moss out, climbing out himself and allowing himself a moment to stretch out his back.
‘Age,’ he said with a small smile, ‘It comes to us all, unfortunately. Ah, Arabella.’
He looked across towards the door where the woman from earlier, now dressed in a sweater and jeans, was emerging.
‘There you are, Daddy. We were beginning to think you’d been abducted by these two and thrown into a ravine.’
Gabe shot a look at Donald, who lifted an eyebrow.
‘No, still here, unfortunately for you,’ said her father, chuckling. ‘Arabella’s not a huge fan of my – I quote – hair brained rewilding project – are you, my dear?’
Arabella leaned back against the granite of Lochbrannich House and folded her arms, looking at her father with an expression of fond amusement.
‘I’m mildly concerned that we’re in danger of turning this place into some sort of middle-class amusement park where well-meaning people trot back and forth every week so they can come and plant trees.’
‘I think the answer is looking at rural re-population,’ said Gabe, almost without thinking. ‘It’s about bringing money back into the local economy at a time when poverty in the Highlands is at an all-time high. If we create jobs, the young people won’t leave, and people like Donald won’t end up having to employ people like me.’
Donald gave a snort of amusement. ‘He’s got a good point, although I’d like to say for the record that I’m happy you’re part of Grant Forestry.’
‘He’s got a good point indeed,’ said the duke, clapping a hand on Gabe’s shoulder. ‘I have every intention of making a difference in whatever time I have left. Hopefully before I pop off I’ll have changed your mind, my darling, and if not you can pull up all the fences and let the deer do their worst.’
‘You know as well as I do there’s more to it than that,’ said Arabella, but she was laughing. ‘I don’t know if you can tell, but this is a conversation we’ve had over the dinner table on more than one occasion.’
Gabe laughed.
‘I’m sure we’ll have it a hundred times over. One lives in hope that she will come round,’ the duke said, striding towards the house. ‘Now I expect that you both have wives to get home to, and I’ve taken up far more of your time than intended with my rabbiting on.’
Gathering the dogs and saying goodbye, they headed back to Donald’s truck, heading down the drive as the duke waved farewell in the rear-view mirror.
Once they’d turned the bend and the house was out of sight both Gabe and Donald let out massive sighs of relief.
‘Sorry,’ said Gabe, covering his face with his hands and groaning.
‘What for?’
Gabe splayed his fingers slightly and looked at his boss sideways. ‘I don’t think Arabella Roxburgh wanted me siding with her father over his plans, do you?’
‘Ach, her bark is a lot worse than her bite. More to the point, I had a feeling the old boy would like you, and I was right.’
‘It’s a great idea.’ In his old life, he’d flown back and forth from London to New York to Dubai for meetings, not giving so much as a thought to environmental concerns or his carbon footprint. He’d learned so much from the diverse collection of people he’d met while tree planting, and soaked up as much knowledge as he could. He knew – as Arabella Roxburgh had said – that rewilding came with its own issues. But he’d also learned that there were ways to work with the community to create opportunities, not only for the current population but for future generations.
‘A great idea, and it’s going to make a massive difference to the business. Which is part of the reason I wanted to take you out here – one because I had a feeling you’d have something interesting to say, which you did, and two because I’ve got a proposition for you.’ Donald slowed the truck as they bumped over a cattle grid and turned onto the road which headed towards Applemore.
Gabe turned to check the dogs were still snoozing contentedly on the back seat. Stanley was flat out, exhausted after a busy afternoon of chasing new scents and being admired by all and sundry.
‘A proposition?’
Donald gave a brief nod. ‘You came up here six months ago and since then you’ve got your head down, worked hard, and soaked up information. We get a lot of people coming up to do planting work, but most of them are happy to make a quick buck and then head off. I don’t know what your plans are, and I might be way off base but if you’re interested in taking this further, I’d be delighted.’
‘Taking it further?’
He sounded like a bloody parrot, echoing Donald like his brain was on half power.
‘A promotion. Supervisor, more training, that sort of thing. You’ve taken it on the chin from the start and mucked in, taken responsibility for making sure the paperwork is sorted if there’s nobody else to check it, all the stuff people tend to shy away from.’
Gabe shifted slightly in his chair, uncomfortable with praise. ‘Only because if someone doesn’t do it, it doesn’t get done.’
It was true. He’d always been happy to step up, but mainly because they were chronically understaffed and mildly chaotic. It seemed easier to be the one who’d take down names or double check the first aid information was up to date than to wait around for someone else to do it. He’d been surprised by how much he’d liked the job and everything that had come with it. It had been something he’d signed up for on a whim, not a long-term plan. Now he was being offered a future when he wasn’t really looking for one, and he wasn’t sure how that felt.
Donald gestured with one hand, turning his hand upward. ‘Anyway, have a think about it. I don’t want to put you on the spot. In the meantime, we’ve got enough to be going on with the community projects coming up as well as the planting.’
‘Community projects?’
For goodness’ sake, there he was repeating words again.
‘Yeah, we’ve got a couple coming up that I think would be a great opportunity for you to stretch your wings a bit, but I’ll talk to you about that later. Come into the office on Friday. You can have a think about it, as I say.’
‘Thanks.’ Gabe looked at Donald thoughtfully. ‘I will do.’