THE CHERRY TREE

HISTORY

The estate had been in the Dean- Fargo family for generations. In fact one could go back as far as just after the English civil war to trace ownership of Dean Hall. The people of England wanted to have a monarch again and after the years of Cromwell and republicanism the beheaded King Charles’s son sat on the English throne.

Talbot Farm, now Dean Hall had been an upstanding, God fearing, Christian home for a wealthy farmer, Henry Talbot who had sided with the round heads of Cromwell. But after the new king was on the throne, Talbot and others who had supported Cromwell had their lives, property and possessions forfeited to the crown. In other words they were murdered and all they had was shared amongst the King’s family and friends.

Francis Deene had been one such person. He was a cousin of the King and so Talbot’s farm became Deene Hall. The farmhouse was pulled down and the grand estate house put up in its place.

Somewhere along the way the Fargoe family became prominently entwined with the estate and so we arrive at our present day and find peace and tranquillity surrounding the estate. The present Earl and owner of Dean Hall is Robert Dean-Fargo and his wife, Countess Cynthia.

It is to Countess Cynthia we go and learn of the intrigue and secrets of Dean Hall.

SWEET DREAMS

The Countess walked out of the formidable oak, panelled door and across the immaculately kept lawn. She made her way to the large stone built garden house. This was a house that a family of four would have found comfortable. Cynthia was a keen gardener and although the estate hired a team of professional men to take care of the horticulture, she had her own patches; particularly the flower beds close to the house and around a cherry tree that she liked to take care of herself.

The garden house had been built around the same time as the hall was put up and had always been the centre for garden activity. The present head gardener had a little office in one of the rooms where he kept the paper work and from where he issued the instructions to the team for the day. Not all the rooms were in present use. In the past some of the gardeners actually lived in the rooms but now they were disused or had been allocated for storage. Cynthia had been meaning to do some scratching around, out of curiosity mainly and today was that day.