where Gill was unexpectedly menaced by a giant snail. Having been rescued from the snail by a passing Curlew, we strolled over to take a look at Tatton Hall, which is now broken up into flats, but still very beautiful, as you can see
Its grounds included a magic well, down which could be faintly but distinctly heard the sound of fairy/elven bells
and a secret garden
Guarded by a pair of bronze rooks, who, one assumes, are only rendered immobile by our having seen them and who were ready to spring to life the instant our backs were turned.
Some of the barns have been converted into cottages
(which I will likely never be able to rent) 
fronting off a cobble-stone courtyard.
The courtyard turned into a cobble road that was obviously not new. We didn't know how old it was, but, given that this was Cheshire, it could as easily have been laid down by the Roman legionaries as by the Victorians. The path was bordered on either side by hedgerows bursting with blackberries and rosehips.
It ended in a fence with a rustic stile.
Gill left me here to go home and give little Ben his lunch and I carried on to see if I could find that door to the magic fairy kingdom I'd heard was around here somewhere.(Part II, in which Hilary Finds both a Castle and the Magic Door, tomorrow.)
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