Chapter 17: Grace and the Palace

I urgently needed to contact Grace, as I wanted to use her house and pool as a venue for the video show with Linda, modeling Astrid’s lingerie, swimwear, and sleepwear lines. I called her Monday morning bright and early.

“Hello Grace, can I disturb you?”

“Oh hi, yes no problem, what’s up?”

“I have a big favor to ask.”

“Wow, now you’re making me curious.”

“You see I need to shoot a video with Linda, a fashion model I’m sponsoring who’s working for Astrid, showing a bunch of lingerie, bathing suits, and sleepwear stuff and I’m looking for a venue, and I was thinking that your place would be an absolute dream location for this, especially your pool area, but maybe also some of your inside rooms.”

“Wow again, that is heavy, you’re taking me by surprise.”

“If you don’t like the idea, don’t worry I’ll find somewhere else to do this; I don’t want to inconvenience you in any way.”

“No, no, it’s not that, it’s just the idea that completely surprises me and why you thought of my place.”

“You do have a fantastic place, it oozes richness and also a bit of sex, very suitable to present sexy underwear or lingerie as Astrid prefers to refer to it. But again don’t feel in any way obliged to accept.”

“No, in fact, I’m honored that you thought of my place, but I may have something even better for you. For the moment I have this palatial home for sale in my portfolio and we could kill two birds with one stone. You need a place for your video, I need some good pictures of this place I am trying to sell at a huge price, so let’s make a deal: while you do your video thing you can also take some nice photos, for me ... for free?”

“You sly little conniving woman, taking advantage of a poor lonesome man begging for a small favor. OK, I’ll take it! You’ve got a deal, but I need to see the place first before I can agree of course.”

“You won’t be disappointed, it’s absolutely fabulous; it’s also fully furnished, and aside from the outdoor and indoor pool, you will have plenty of rooms to choose from for your sleepwear videos. One thing though it has to be next weekend or the one after because I only have the sales option for one month and I need weekends for viewings with potential buyers. After that, if it’s not sold, I might lose the deal to another realtor.”

“When can I see it; is today early evening a possibility?”

“Yes, that’s OK, maybe you could take the pictures for me then, please?”

“How can I resist you when you ask so nicely? Text me the address and the time you expect me.”

“Is six OK for you?”

“Six is perfect, I’ll still have enough light to take the outside pictures, I’ll bring some extra lights for indoors, see you then. Cheers for now and thanks!”

“You’re welcome, always like to help a friend.”

So that evening I packed my gear with some extra floodlights I might need for indoor pictures and set out to the address Grace had texted. Arriving there I must admit, it was impressive and really palatial as Grace had mentioned. There was a big entry gate behind which I saw a path lined with nice oak trees, but no residence in view, it must be somewhere in the back, unable to be seen from the street.

I pushed the button on the pole that was 6 meters (20ft) before the gate and was immediately connected by video to the house I guessed, Grace was on the screen.

“Ah you’ve arrived, let me buzz you in.”

I heard a buzzing sound and the gates slowly swung open, allowing me to drive through. Once in, they quickly closed again, probably to keep the riffraff out. The driveway meandered through a wooded area, with the occasional view over an immaculate lawn, golf club grade. Finally, I saw the house, Grace had certainly not exaggerated: palace was the more appropriate word to describe this residence. Grace was at the front door waving at me. I parked, stepped out of the car, and walked toward her.

“You didn’t exaggerate when you called this a palatial home, I am duly impressed with what I’ve seen so far. I can imagine you want to sell this place, there must be a big commission attached to it.”

“Yes, there is, if I can sell it! I won’t be able to retire yet, but it will definitely make my year very successful.”

“Excellent, I would like to get started immediately with the outdoor photos if you don’t mind, while there is still plenty of daylight.”

“Yes, by all means, it will also give you a good feel of the place and allow you to figure out how you can use it in your videos.

“However before we start, I need to ask you if you have the permission of the owners for these photos?”

“Yes, I have, and before you ask, I know you are a stickler for the legal stuff, I have it in writing.”

“God, why haven’t I met you before, or have I in a previous life maybe?”

“If that were true I would definitely remember, believe me.”

I grabbed my cameras and started walking back to get some good pictures of the gardens and the front view of the place. In the back, there was, of course, the outdoor swimming pool and a couple of tennis courts, not to forget the stables, for the moment without horses, but nevertheless very impressive. It took me about three-quarters of an hour to get enough images for Grace to choose from for her files and the sales brochure I presumed she wanted to make.

“OK, now we move inside - let me get the floodlights.”

“Can I help in any way?”

“If you don’t mind lending a hand we can be done faster.”

I handed Grace some poles, cables, and lights for her to carry inside and followed with a bunch of others. I set up in the grand entrance with the impressive staircase, typical for these kinds of places. In this case, the staircase was a double one starting in the middle and then splitting halfway and turning left and right, ideal if you wanted to make a grand entrance when a party was going on in that area. In the middle was a marble table with a big vase of the same marble, unfortunately without flowers, but yeah the place was uninhabited for the moment, so no lady of the manor to take care of these little things.

We walked through the different rooms on the ground floor, comprising a library, a music room, a huge room that could be used as a ballroom, a living room, a TV room, a conservatory including the indoor swimming pool, you name it, it was there. After that Grace took me below to the cellar, well half cellar, only part of it was below ground level, allowing natural light to enter. There was a huge kitchen, pantry, Billiards room, a small cinema for about fifteen people and of course a well-stocked wine cellar, a pity we couldn’t stay a bit longer to discover what exactly was available and sample some. In the end, I felt like I was walking around a contemporary Downton Abbey as in the British television series.

The upstairs was equally impressive, with seven bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. We didn’t bother to go to the servant’s quarters on the second floor we just took a peek at the attic, which was enormous, part of it was equipped as a ballet training area with training bars and mirrors. That last area, although very tricky with the mirrors, could be interesting for the video as well.