drawing room had a fire lit and a servant brought in hot chocolate for the newly arrived guests.
‘Nanny, how will Santa know we are here?’
‘Don’t worry darling. I wrote him a letter.’
‘Oh good, I’m hoping he will bring me a bike.’
‘You never know.’
Lisbeth, Andrew, and Lara ate dinner in the small dining room which also had a fire; in fact there were more than thirty fireplaces in the castle.
The nanny put Lara to bed and read her a new book The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit – a very appropriate title she thought.
Lara woke early, keen to discover if Santa had found her at the castle, and crept downstairs looking in all the rooms she could find. The rooms were enormous – Santa could have left the presents anywhere. Lisbeth heard the little girl and followed her downstairs.
‘Has he been yet?’
‘I don’t think so, Nanny. I can’t find any presents. Not even under the Christmas tree.’
‘Did you look under the tree in the library?’
‘No, I didn’t think to look there.’
‘Well, come on. Let’s have a look shall we?’
The two of them crept into the library just in case Santa was still there. Lara let out a little scream.
‘Look Nanny! He’s been! Look at the presents! And Nanny he’s brought me a bike!’
The red bike was a three-wheeler driven by a chain, exactly what she had hoped for.
Lara sat down on the floor and started to open her Christmas presents: there were books, dolls, and lots of new clothes. She was so excited.
Once all the presents were looked at fondled and admired it was time for Christmas breakfast. Andrew joined them bearing gifts for both Lara and Lisbeth.
Over breakfast they decided they should build a snowman at the front of the castle. It needed to be a fast build as the temperature outside was -15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the snowman was completed Lara asked Andrew if they could go exploring; he agreed.
Initially he took her through the castle’s main rooms.
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Floor Plan Raby Castle
They made their way through the ballroom and the various sitting rooms, the large kitchen and the banquet room. Finally, Andrew asked Lara whether she would like to see the dungeon. She didn’t know what a dungeon was but agreed. Carrying a torch, Andrew took her hand and led her down a dark stairway.
Lara pleaded with Andrew not to move any further down the dark, cold stairwell.
‘I don’t like it here. Can we please go back?’
‘There’s nothing to be frightened about darling. I’m here. We’re almost at the end. Then we can explore the dungeon.’
‘I don’t care. I want to go back.’
‘All right, maybe we can explore it another time.’
Andrew and Lara returned to the sitting room where Lisbeth and Mr Spencer were enjoying a cup of tea.
‘Well, you two, did you discover anything interesting?’ asked Lisbeth.
‘Yes, we pretty much covered the entire castle. Lara saw pictures of her ancestors, and I showed her the bedroom where her father and I slept when we were here as boys,’ said Andrew.’
‘Did you enjoy it, Lara?’ asked Lisbeth.
‘Yes, but I didn’t like the staircase going down to the dungeon much, I became frightened.’
‘Andrew you didn’t take her down there did you? No wonder she became frightened.’
‘Harry and I went down there all the time when we were young boys.’
‘Young boys and seven-year-old girls are entirely different. I ask you not to take Lara down there again.’
That was the last they spoke of it. Lisbeth had a surprise for Lara after lunch she hoped she would respond well to it.
No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.
Winston Churchill
Chapter 9
Lisbeth and Lara walked around to the stables behind the castle the estate kept twenty racing thoroughbreds. The nanny had arranged with Westmoreland’s caretaker Peter Bryant to bring Princess up to Raby a couple of days before Lara and she arrived. She hoped that Lara would begin riding the pony again. She hadn’t seen Princess since the day of Megan’s fatal accident.
‘Darling, would you like to see the horses – they’re beautiful?’
‘I don’t mind. I suppose so.’
They walked into the magnificent stables where Peter was feeding the horses their oats.
‘Hello ladies, have you come to help me?’
‘What do you think, Lara? Should we help Mr Bryant with the feeding?’
‘What do we need to do, Nanny?’
‘Well, we just fill the feed troughs with oats.’
‘So we don’t have to go in with the horses?’
‘No darling, we just fill the box from the outside of the stall.’
‘All right. I’ll try.’
‘OK, pet, just take some oats from the bag and place them inside the feeding box,’ explained Mr Bryant.
‘There. I did it, he seems to like them. Look how he’s gobbling them up,’ said Lara.
‘Would you like to feed another one?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why don’t we feed the horse at the very end of the stable. I’m sure she’s hungry.’
‘All
