Adventures of Devon Carlton - 11. ADC Chapter 11

Devon arranged to stay in a Bed and Breakfast accommodation for two weeks once he is released from hospital; to allow time for the property settlement to be finalised, on the day that Devon was finally released, it was a Saturday morning, and Edgar was there to help Devon, carrying all of his luggage, which had now been sent from the Manor, and they took a taxi to the Bed & Breakfast where Devon would be staying temporarily, once settled in, Devon and Edgar called for a taxi and went to have a look at the cottage, after contacting Ms Brimley to arrange a first look at the property once he was out of hospital.

When they arrived at the cottage, which was on a small narrow road, about 200 metres off the main road and the taxi driver had left, Devon stood at the gate with tears in his eyes, it was more beautiful than the photos he had seen, it was just perfect, passing through the front gate, with 1 ½ metre high neatly trimmed hedges along the front boundary, Devon saw a wonderful cottage garden with a 50 metre long winding wide footpath leading to the front door.

With Edgar supporting him, Devon carefully walked down the path, stopping occasionally to look at parts of the garden, and there was even a garden seat halfway along the path, which was perfect for Devon to stop and rest.

While sitting on the garden bench, Ms Brimley arrived, parking in the side driveway close to the cottage, and she walked along a small path from the drive to the front door, where Edgar and Devon met her, as she unlocked the front door, and Devon stepped into his new home for the first time.

The small entrance hall has a storage cupboard on one side and a row of hooks and a boot rack on the other side, passing through the second door; they entered a hallway which has a lounge room on one side and a library & study on the opposite side, next to the lounge room is the master bedroom with walk in robe and the main bathroom, while opposite is the smaller second bedroom with walk in robe.

Through some double doors at the end of the passageway is a roomy sitting room and dining room, covering the whole width of the cottage, and leading off the dining room is a large modern country kitchen and utility room, while leading off the sitting room was a large verandah with half walls on the end and side that are open, overlooking the backyard and the other buildings.

Devon could see that there was a tall hedge along both side boundaries also, and they are both a fair distance away from the side of the cottage, allowing for a large vegetable garden to be grown on one side, and the driveway to the garage and stables down the other side. Stepping out onto the verandah, Devon took a moment to have a good look around before they went to look at the 4 stall stables with tack room, a work/training yard, small barn, double garage and workshop, all of which were in good condition, with the stalls being of good size, and there was easy access to everything, plus the horses had the paddock to roam around in during the day.

All that was left to see now was the adjoining property at the back, which was accessed from the same driveway to the stables, with a large gate at the end of the drive, that provided access to a small rough gravel track that lead along the boundary to as far as the brook, where there was a small cleared area for parking vehicles, once again the boundary has a large hedge along it, but this one was taller and thicker than the one around the cottage, being almost two metres high and about a metre thick.

Devon decided to leave it to another time to check the back of the property, and they returned to the front of the cottage, where Ms Brimley offered them a ride back into the centre of town, where the B&B is located. Devon and Edgar sat in the lounge room of the B&B for over an hour, chatting excitedly about the property, and eventually, they went down to a café for some lunch, before Edgar had to return to school to play polo at a neighbouring school.

For the remainder of the day and all day Sunday, Devon was just relaxing and also looking online to see what to do about furniture for the cottage.

He looked online to see what he needed to do to be permitted to drive in Scotland, as he only has an Australian driver’s licence, plus he looked for general maintenance businesses that would be able to go through the property and repair anything that needs to be done before moving in.

Devon also sent a brief message to his friends in EQD, “Hey guys, I am finally out of hospital, and I have been following the news about your tour, I have just bought a property just out of Inverness, so moving into there soon, hope you guys can come and visit sometime, Dev”.

On Monday morning, Ms Brimley called in to the B&B just after breakfast with the final settlement documents, that had already been signed by the sellers, and as Devon signed them and Ms Brimley countersigned as a witness, Devon was handed the full set of keys for the cottage and the ownership documents, and when Ms Brimley had left, Devon sent a text to Edgar.

“It’s official, I now own the property, Woohoo!” and a similar one to Douglas and Julia, “The settlement for the Inverness property has been finalised, I will be moving in once some repairs have been done, and I have sorted out furnishings.”

Devon received a reply text from Julia – “Hold off doing any shopping for furniture, I will be in Inverness tomorrow and I can spend the day helping you, congratulations”, Devon smiled at the message and he decided to look into getting a Scottish drivers licence, and went to the Transport Service to do the test he needed to do.

By the time he was back at the B&B, later in the day, Devon had his Scottish driver’s licence, and he had visited a number of new car yards, he also had found a maintenance company who would visit the cottage at 8am the next day, to look at what needs to be done.

Devon relaxed for the rest of the day, and he went to a nearby small restaurant for dinner, and had just finished ordering when his phone beeped, “Hey cousin, glad to hear that it is all finalised, I have heaps of assignments this week, so will only be free on Wednesday after school for a few hours, will see you then at the B&B or will it be at the cottage?”.

Devon had an early night as he had a feeling that it would be really busy in the morning, and he read a book for a short while in bed before dozing off to sleep. The next morning, Devon had breakfast at 7 am, and had ordered a taxi to pick him up at 7.45am, Devon had with him his briefcase containing his laptop computer, his Deed Papers for the property, a floor plan of the cottage and 2 plans of the whole property, notebook and a few pens of different colours and some pencils and an eraser.

Arriving just ten minutes before 8am, Devon unlocked the front door of his new home and walked into the cottage, and through to the kitchen, where he laid out the plans on the kitchen workbench, just as he finished doing that there was a knock on the front door, Devon called out that the door was open and to come in, and it was not the maintenance contractor as Devon had expected but Julia instead.

They chatted for a few minutes until the contractor arrived, and Julia let him in and directed him to the kitchen, once introductions were done, Devon asked the contractor to walk around the cottage and take noteof any faults or problems that he can see, and he asked Julia to accompany him, as Devon was feeling a bit dizzy and needed to sit down for a bit, as he slid down the wall till he was sitting on the floor, Julia looked at Devon with a concerned frown, before Devon waved them off to do what needs to be done.

Half an hour later they returned to the kitchen, with just a small list of things to be done, which could be completed by the end of the day, and he gave a reasonable quote, which was agreed on, next they climbed into Julia’s Landrover and they went down the track to the back of the rear block of land, and with a 300 metre walk from the car park to the footbridge, they arrived at the stone shed, which was a lot bigger than Devon thought it would be, the shed is situated in a small clearing behind a grove of trees so it couldn’t be seen directly from the footbridge.

There was a single entry door, plus a large sliding door made of solid wood, once inside they could see a very large open area, with plastered walls and smooth concrete floors, and a quarter of the rear section has a mezzanine level, accessed from a spiral staircase, underneath this in one corner is a bathroom and separate toilet, in the other corner is a kitchen with a wood stove.

Upstairs there are two large very large rooms, with a bathroom between them, and a small landing which overlooks the big area downstairs, after a good look around, there appeared to be no problems, and Julia suggested install heating to the flooring, with wooden floorboards on top, Devon accepted her suggestion and asked the contractor to provide a quote for this as a job that can be done later on, and they made their way back to the cottage.

Once the contractor had left to get supplies for what needed to be done, Julia and Devon who had recovered enough walked through the cottage one room at a time, and with pad and pen at hand, Devon took note of Julia’s suggestions for each of the rooms, regarding decorating. Once this was completed, they returned to the car and headed into town to see what was available and suitable to furnish the cottage, and Devon took the plan of the cottage with him to help with selecting furniture.

Three hours and 9 shops later, Devon was exhausted and needed to rest, so they went to a café for some lunch, afterwards, they went to three more shops before calling it a day, with everything ordered and paid for, and would be delivered over the next four days. With a lot of luck they were able to find a house painter who was available immediately, and with the plans in hand, they were able to discuss and finalise colours for each room, and a full quote was given and accepted, and a team of painters would spend three days painting the inside of the cottage, any furniture and accessories that are delivered would be stored in the garage until the painting was completed and dry.

With light earthy colours throughout, the cottage looked very nice inside, and the main furniture arrived two days later for all of the rooms, Devon had gone to a second-hand book store and selected and purchased over 150 books to partly fill his shelves in the library/study, and he had a big solid oak desk and comfortable office chair delivered.

On the Saturday, Julia returned bringing Edgar with her, to assist with hanging the curtains for all the rooms and to fix any small issues, to unpack and put away all the kitchenware, make the beds, put away all the new linen and helped with the installation of the white goods into the kitchen and utility room, plus as a house warming present, Julia and family gave Devon 6 silver goblets, which were very impressive.

Before leaving in the late afternoon, Julia suggested looking at turning the large stone shed in the back paddock into a Bunkhouse retreat, she said that one room upstairs could have beds for 6, with the other room made into a cosy lounge room, while downstairs could be a multi-purpose area, made up of a billiards table, table tennis table, maybe a baby grand piano and a solid dining table and chairs for up to eight people, plus a couple of lounge suites along the side walls.

Devon liked the idea and asked “Is there was any reason for the suggestion, of a bunkhouse retreat?”, Julia smiled at Devon before saying “Maybe some of your friends might like to get away from their work and have a relaxing place to stay, away from prying eyes”, Devon understood and thought it was a brilliant idea for that reason, and agreed for it to go ahead.

Once back at the B&B, Devon informed the owners that he would be leaving the following day, but would be happy to pay up for the rest of the week as agreed, and he spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and packing up his belongings, even if it wasn’t much.

That evening Devon called home to speak to his parents, and it was the twins who answered the phone, “Hey squirts, how are things, in Australia?” Devon asked, “Hey big bro, yes all is good here, what about in Scotland? they replied as they hit the loudspeaker button, so the rest of the family could hear.

“Yes, all is good here, I have purchased a cottage and land just out of Inverness, and I have had Julia helping me with doing the furnishing of the cottage, Edgar their oldest son, goes to boarding school not far away, and he has been helping me while I was in the hospital.

He will be moving into the cottage in a week’s time, to help look after me, as I'm still not 100%, I rang to ask if all my stuff can be sorted, any clothes that Gary and Mitch want they can have, all the remaining clothes can go to charity, can you pack and store the rest of the gear, and if it’s alright can we let Gary and Mitch to stay at the townhouse”, Devon said.

“Hello son, I’m glad you are out of the hospital, and recovering well, and pleased that Julia has been able to help you settle into a new home, what are your plans now? Hugh asked, with a bit of surprise that his oldest has decided to settle in Scotland.

“Hey Dad, well my injuries don’t give me the mobility to be able to continue with Architecture, and since that was what I was aiming at as a career, I am sort of in an undecided mode at the moment, but the guys would like me to join the band as a permanent guest singer, the problem is I am still having issues with stage fright, and being in a public profile, so I just want to rest and recover from my injuries first, and see what happens after I am better” Devon said, “Well I know you will find your place, so get well soon and take care dear” Grace said, “Ok I will, talk to you again soon family, Bye for now” Devon said and hung up the phone.

The following morning after breakfast, Devon called a taxi to take him to the Car yard, to buy a Landrover 4x4, which he had ordered two days earlier, and it was ready to collect when he arrived. Once he had collected the vehicle he returned to the B&B to collect his luggage, and for the first time, he drove to his new home just out of town and parked in the garage just down the back of the cottage.

Once inside Devon wandered around the cottage to get the feel of his now fully furnished home, before he made a cup of tea and sat down in the lounge. After finishing his cuppa, Devon drove down to the back bunkhouse to have a look again, and thinking about what Julia had suggested, he could see her idea working well in this building.

As Devon was heading back to the car, he tripped on a rock just as he was stepping onto the bridge, and after a few stubbles, Devon ended up falling into the brook, which was only a metre deep, but was very cold.

After a few attempts of climbing out, Devon realised that he had injured his ankle and it took a bit more effort to drag himself out of the water, by this time he was shivering from cold and he couldn’t move, he could hear his mobile ringing in the car, but he was not able to drag himself more than a few feet before stopping due to exhaustion.

Devon had no idea how long he had been lying there before he could hear footsteps running towards him, and it was Edgar as he had grabbed the blanket out of the car and he wrapped it around him, before dashing back to the car to grab the phone to call for an ambulance.

Devon woke up warm and cosy in a hospital bed the next morning, and Edgar was sitting in a chair nearby dozing, Devon could feel that his ankle was strapped and it was hurting when he tried to move it, as he tried to sit up to reach for a glass of water.

Edgar had woken up and put his hand on Devon’s shoulder to let Devon know he was here to help, and he poured a glass of water and placed one of those crazy straws in the glass before helping Devon to sit up so he could take a drink.