A Place in the Country

In A Place in the Country we are introduced to the perfect married couple and learn how they met and how went the wooing and the wedding and the honeymoon, all as narrated by the romantic husband - until they become involved in everyone's dream. A country cottage with roses round the door; on the village green, a roof of thatch with fruit trees in the garden and somewhere to escape to for weekends - and holidays - from the hurly-burly of city life. Or is it? Joanna is of that view, all in favour of a place in the country, but her husband Mark is not so sure. He has a friend who describes in excruciating detail the horror of packing up each Friday night, braving the traffic on the journey to the idyllic weekend destination and then repeating the agony in reverse two days later. Before the ideal property can be found it is necessary to endure the purgatory of innumerable inspections of widely unsuitable options presented by estate agents who, together with the congested roads out of London, figure as minor villains in this drama. Eventually the perfect cottage is found, but which one is it? And is there a further alternative? There is a happy ending.