The approach
The Drive
A long drive off a lane, and then the last gentle hill, and then the house, all at once, real.
You come off the lane and the trees close over, and for a while there is only the sound of the wheels and the wood going by. Then the drive crests one last gentle rise, and there it is: a grand, rambling house of many tall windows, standing amid a great sweep of parkland. Every girl who has ever come here remembers this exact moment. Her heart leapt clean up into her throat. St Elowen's was real.