Chapter 4

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.