Chapter 4

Posted: March 27, 2007 - 10:02:42 pm?

The main section of the farm house was three stories tall. It had two wings that were two stories each, and there were several out-buildings on the property. Two barns were connected by a corral. Close in pastures held horses to do the farm work, and a small heard of cattle. A chicken coup, a blacksmith shop, an ice house, tool sheds, and two root cellars completed the set-up.

The chickens supplied fresh eggs and meat, and the grain silos stored the grain that was harvested. The house was surrounded by huge trees, which provided shade throughout the day.

John toured the place and was more and more impressed as he inspected each new building. The bath house was an eye opener. Water was warmed by means of a fire under a huge boiler, and the water was then led into the huge tubs. Finally, a sauna was set up at one end. It was kept very warm in there, indeed. John could not wait to try the place out. Everything the gentleman farmer needed for comfort. It was a veritable old style plantation come to life!

John spent the night there, and it was a restful night. The bed was huge and comfortable, breakfast the next morning was eggs, and meats of various types. John broke out some coffee from his dwindling store, and had a pot made. All in all it was a great breakfast.

Finally, he and his guards loaded up into the RV and headed out for the next property. It was about a three hour drive at the speed they were traveling. If he had been on horseback, it would have been an all day trip, at the very least.

The land changed from flat to hilly. The road followed the curve of hills, and even went over a few, but mostly the road was cut into the sides of the hills themselves. The change in the land was dramatic to say the least. It was not quite mountainous, but it was very hilly.

The condition of the road varied as he traveled north. It was supposed to be maintained and able to support wagons rolling along the north south route. It was tight in a few places, and some road was absolutely missing in other sections, but the RV managed to plow through the bad spots like a champion.

The first view that John had of his new home was not that impressive. As he got closer, his perspective changed though, as did the landscape around him. Someone had taken the time to shape the local land the house sat upon! Everything was arranged in support of the house.

Vines had grown upon the outer wall of the house. The side facing the long drive was covered in the vine's flowers. Moss also had attached itself to the house at some time in the past, and the stonework of the house was mostly covered with something by this point.

The house was almost a tower, and was four stories high. It was made of rough dressed field stone, which John could see through the ivy, moss, and vines that were clinging to the sides. The main part of the house was narrow and thrust upwards sharply. There was a tower attached to the right side of the house, which added another two stories. John imagined he would have a commanding view of the countryside from the top of that tower.

It looked like John's approach had been spotted, as their were people waiting for him as he drove into the yard proper of the house. John let his guards out, first. Then he exited the RV, closing the door behind him and locking it. He didn't want people messing with his transportation, at all.

"My Lord Baron? I am Stafford, your steward. We were notified of your coming by messenger. I greet you with these various workers," a tall man with a soulful face explained.

The steward was dressed all in brown, and there were ten others standing outside waiting for John to review them. They were the house workers who were not doing something at the moment.

There were three men, and seven woman lined up for inspection beside the steward. John looked them over and nodded.

"I am not here to bring great changes. I want to understand the needs of this house and vineyard, before I even think about changing anything. Most likely nothing will differ to greatly from what you already know," John stated.

John was escorted into the house. The entry hall was long and had a low ceiling. Rooms opened up on either side of the long hall and John caught glimpses of dining rooms, and something like a library.

"You're quarters are located on the second floor, my Lord Baron. Your guards have rooms assigned at the ends and on either side of your room. This is Max. He will be your body servant while you are here," Stafford explained as a man stepped forward.

"I can dress myself, thank you. If you want to be my butler, I am more than happy to have you work in that respect. Your knowledge of the house will be invaluable to me," John told Max seriously.

"I live to serve, my Lord Baron," Max said with a slight bow.

"I want a meal served as quickly as possible. I will then review the books and I will want someone to explain your book keeping style to me. The last place I checked, had a confusing way of keeping books," John stated.

The meal had already been started, and it was served shortly. Due to the nature of the surrounding ground, the place did not support farming on any large scale. However, a large garden provided vegetables and supplied the root cellars with what they had for the winter months.

Everything was built of stone and was very rugged, though there were not as many buildings as were located on the farm that John had just left. What was more interesting was the huge cave system. It was instrumental in storing and making of the wines that were produced by this estate.

John toured the caves with interest and taste tested several batches of wine. Now John was not a great wine drinker to begin with, but he was determined to learn as much as he could while he was at the estate so as not to rock the boat so to speak.

He also toured the vineyard and saw the buds of growing grapes on the vines. He noticed with interest he had about fifty people working in the vineyard and asked where they came from.

"Lord Baron, they are mostly from the small village located a few miles to the north. We maintain a place for fifteen workers at all times, in the vineyards. The others are hired as we need them, and they are carried as transient workers on the books," Stafford explained to John.

John then asked about barrels and how much it cost to have them shipped. John noticed that his property had a large section of woods that was adjacent to the vineyard to the west. This wood was owned by John, but was undeveloped and was not used as a source of wood for barrels by the vineyard.

The books that were kept were understandable to John. He saw how he could improve the bookkeeping, but for the most part it was understandable. John pointed out a couple improvements to the bookkeeping, and Stafford seemed to grasp the change and principles easily enough.

The evening meal was held in the great hall dining room. All workers ate in the great hall dining room twice a day, once at breakfast, and again at evening meal. Served, was a potato soup, followed by a side of beef, which was cut up and divided equally throughout the room. This was all washed down with an ale and lots of the wine made on site.

John slept well that night. Following breakfast bright and early the next morning, he loaded his guards into the RV, and he was on his way again. This was the final leg of the trip. This last estate was supposed to be 'the crème de le crème', due to it's close proximity to the king.

When John pulled up at his third estate later that day, he was amazed at what he found. It looked like something out of an English countryside. The grounds were well manicured. A small maze of hedges were growing at either side of the house.

The house itself was three stories tall, and was whitewashed to a bright white. Flowers were growing in abundance everywhere John looked. All this was noticeable, just from the front of the building.

Everywhere that John looked seemed to be gleaming, or it was manicured to a fine point. There was only one person waiting on John as he exited the RV.

"Good afternoon my Lord Baron. I am Cal, and I am your steward here. Welcome to Foxworth Manor," Cal said.

Cal escorted John into the house. John was impressed again at what he saw. Polished marble was what he first noticed. This was definitely a 'show place', and was kept as such. Everything inside seemed to gleam with polish and was well cared for.

"A meal has been prepared for you in the main dining room. Your guards will be taken care of in the worker's kitchen," Cal stated as he led John through the great house.

Shortly they arrived at the main dining room, and it was magnificent to look at. The floor was marble, the two long tables were polished to a high shine, and windows with glass let the sunlight in. A place had been set and the plates were of the finest china made in the land. The edge of all the plates were trimmed with gold, as were the goblets. The silverware was actually silver.

John dismissed his guard, and they trooped off for their own meal elsewhere. John sat behind the setting on the main table, and was soon buried in a meal fit for a king. The chicken that was served, was tender beyond tender.

There was corn on the cob, mashed potato's and gravy, and home made bread. For drink, there was his choice of wine, ale, or a weak beer. He choose to have water sent for, as he was tired of all the alcohol served with everything.

He asked for pepper and got it, but it was not ground yet. He watched as a servant ground the pepper right before his eyes. A small bowl of salt was also available for his use.

After his meal was over, he was given a tour of the house. He was more and more impressed with what he found. It was definitely a show place, and was maintained in a manner befitting a Lord of the Realm.

John was astonished to know that the king had been a guest of this house on several occasions. It seemed that the lords retreated from the city during the hot summer months, and this was one such retreat that the king often enjoyed.

John asked to see the books and was astonished to discover that these were kept almost as he would have kept them. Every item was carefully noted, every gold that came in or went out was accounted for, down to the last copper.

The next morning after breakfast, John toured the land and surrounding buildings. Plowing was done by teams of horses, and John could see more land was still being plowed as he watched.

John listened as he was told how much acreage was being planted in what. A lot of what was planted here was going to wind up at the vineyard as this land produced more than enough to cover what was needed at the vineyard. The rest was either sold off or stored away in one of several root cellars used exclusively by the house.

John went back into the great house and went though some of the rooms closely. He sat himself in the library and noticed that he had several books on magic in his library.

"Cal, why do I have books on magic? Is there a magic user around here who uses these items regularly?" John asked curiously.

"When the king comes down from Carlston, he routinely brings magic users with him. Also, we hire magic users upon occasion. Having these books here, lets us hire them cheaper," Cal said in response.

"How do you mean, they are cheaper?" John wanted to know.

"If you hire a magic worker, they sometimes have to research spells before they can use them. These books are full of most of the spells a magic user will need, and this lets us hire at a cheaper rate in exchange for the benefit of using our books as a resource," Cal responded.

John opened one of the books of magic, and started reading it. Some of it made sense to him, but most was just unintelligible to him. He wondered if he would or could get good at magic. He had not considered this before and the entire idea drew him.