Where are we going, Saffy? Why all the mystery?’ Marian was gazing out of the car window, watching the vaguely familiar scenery flash by.

‘No mystery, just a nice day out,’ Saffron answered, signalling to pull off the dual carriageway. ‘Can’t a daughter treat her mum once in a while?’

Marian smiled. ‘Oh, she absolutely can!’

But as they drove along the winding country lanes, Marian’s sense of déjà vu intensified until, around the last bend, she saw the quaint thatched bus stop she had waited at so many times as a teen.

‘Heron’s Flight Hall,’ she said.

‘That’s right,’ Saffy confirmed. ‘They’re auctioning off some pieces today. I thought you might find it interesting.’

As a props buyer for a TV production company, Saffy never missed an opportunity to source potential items. ‘You might even see something you like. Not every day you get a chance to own something from a stately home.’

‘Hardly that,’ Marian said. ‘A mansion, certainly, but not grand enough to be stately.’