Sarah had no intention of having nannies or anything like that. Her mother had sighed a bit, and said vaguely: ‘I always find women who look after their own children get rather untidy and disorganised. Husbands hate it too'. Sometimes Sarah wanted to slap her face.

Built at a time when servants had servants who had servants, there'd been a whole thriving community in the great house to wait upon the tiny family perched on top like a hut on a mountain.

Damson was also old enough to know that you can never rely on other people to act as you would in almost any circumstance.