The backdrop to the whole story
Nippur strode past the driver without paying and jumped into a seat already occupied by an elderly lady reading a book. Seconds later, he was on her knee, catching Sam’s eye, patting the empty seat next to them.
Wide-eyed, Sam paid the driver, desperate to recall where he’d met this kid. He approached cautiously and slid quietly into place beside them. The lady sensed Sam’s curiosity, turned a page, looked up, and smiled; Nippur was precariously perched on her knee.
“You’re not going to be popular when you get home tonight,” Nippur declared.
Nippur turns up out of the blue when Sam Dawson, the teenage son of Geoff, is tired of having to forgo things he’d been brought up to expect due to financial pressures on the family when his father left his lucrative job as an aerospace engineer to take up residence at the beautiful Lakeside view as a farmer. Sam and Nippur meet for the first time, boarding a bus for school, where Nippur passes the driver without paying and settles on the lap of an elderly lady, reading her book. Awestruck, Sam takes the empty seat next to them, understanding that Nippur is no ordinary boy: he is, in fact, the incarnation of his own conscience, unseen, unheard and completely oblivious to anyone other than Sam.
Lionel Harvey owned vast areas of land, comprising mainly of woodland, moorland and grazing pasture. The expanse was divided into three distinct regions. The beautiful ‘Lakeland’ zone is flanked by the very flat. ‘Low Moor’ to the south and ‘Grange Moor’ to the North, a predominantly woodland area rising into hills.
Irrelevant Title.
He inherited the land from his father, the last ‘Duke of Radnor’, upon his father’s death in 1993. Relinquishing the title as irrelevant, he passed Grange Moor Hall, his family home to Colonel Sir John Parry-Jones, a respected, retired politician and officer of his father’s (and his) regiment, the Royal Engineers, who was a much-trusted friend. Sir John (The Colonel.) was already the tenant of land that included the whole of Grange Moor and its properties.
Lakeside View.
Lakeland’s was spectacularly beautiful and had been under the direct control of the Harvey family (Duke of Radnor) going back to medieval times. It’s lakes, rivers, woodland and picturesque setting became a magnet for tourism.
Known to all his friends modestly as ‘Leo’, Lionel Harvey built and lived at a smallholding called ‘Lakeside View, the boundaries of which edged into all three areas. The courtyard of the smallholding straddled Peacock Lane, the primary access from a bustling world to all of the land he owned. From there, surrounded by beautiful countryside, he indulged a passion for breeding rare pigs and collecting classic cars.
Lakelands.
Lakelands contained the vast, beautiful Lake Radnor with coves, islands and estuaries that held mysterious secrets of bygone years. It was here that he developed a love of sailing and fishing. Alongside his father and the Colonel, he built a marina at the south end of the lake, together with an exclusive sailing club, which comprised a private bar, high-end restaurant, a shop and the ships chandlery. He also had a small building erected adjacent to the restaurant that contained a bar for members and guests of the fishing club (generally townsfolk and his good friend and pig-man, Alf Marklew), with arrangements in place for the restaurant to provide food if required.
Low Moor.
Low Moor bordered the conurbation of Radnor town to the south, and Lakeland’s to the North. Geographically, Low Moor was the closest point of access to Radnor town and cities beyond that, with the potential to connect all the land Leo owned. The whole area was flat moorland and pasture. Tenancy at Low Moor had been in the family of Edith Small for as long as anybody could remember, and she was the last surviving member of her family. In the event of her demise without an heir, arrangements had been agreed upon regarding the future of the land.
Radnor Boys.
Around the time of his father’s death, Lionel met two young men, nicknamed the ‘Radnor Boys’. Michael Lander (14) and Geoff Dawson (12), who were gaining a glowing reputation in the area for their passion for all things farming. Taking the boys under his wing, he grew to respect their qualities and integrity, guiding them in his own image. Sharing his passion for preservation and love of the land, it seemed natural that they would take a route into farming or conservation as a profession. He regarded them as children he never had, and surprising information gleaned from Sir John Parry-Jones strengthened his resolve to be supportive.
Provisionally, he arranged for stewardship of the land to be transferred to the Radnor boys, but when each of them selected career paths away from farming, he was forced to respect their choices and make other plans.
Change of Plan.
With his friend and solicitor, Manny Cohen, he created a trust to which he would transfer the land and its management, subject to specific terms and conditions, upon his demise. He recognised the Radnor boys as ‘team players’ who had farming and conservation running through their veins. With that in mind, he left Lakeside View in its entirety to Geoff, with provision to provide maintenance of the adjoining landmasses, Low Moor, Lakelands and Grange Moor. Throughout the process, a deep desire for the Radnor boys to replace him in the stewardship of his land was paramount. Time-restricted terms and conditions were built into arrangements that related to the very existence of the trust and hinged on subtle clauses that could be exercised within a ten-year period beyond his demise if the Radnor boys ever decided to manage the estate together.
An ambiguous note was amended to the will concerning works, above and beyond Geoff’s usual remit, which indicated that he was to be exclusively employed.
Lionel died unexpectedly, but peacefully in 2018 at the age of 88.
