Hare House: An Atmospheric Modern-day Tale of Witchcraft – the Perfect Autumn Read

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Striking up a friendship with her landlord, Grant, and his younger sister, Cass, she begins to suspect that all might not be quite as it seems at Hare House. And as autumn turns to winter, and a heavy snowfall traps the inhabitants of the estate within its walls, tensions rise to fever pitch.

This is one of those books I find difficult to rate, I raced through it but at the same time I don’t think I really enjoyed it. The experience reminded me a little of reading things like Gone Girl I just got caught up in wanting to know what was going on, even though I wasn’t expecting a satisfying denouement. Although it’s well-crafted in terms of prose style, atmospheric, and Sally Hinchcliffe’s highly effective at establishing a sense of place, the issues I had were with the story/plot and the portrayal of certain characters. The novel’s set in a remote area of rural Scotland where a rather enigmatic woman has retreated, after an unspecified incident ended her teaching career. She relates her experiences solely from her own perspective and gives every appearance of being an unreliable narrator. It’s difficult to go into too many details without spoilers but this falls somewhere between psychological and supernatural mystery – with a nod towards folk horror. The narrator becomes embroiled in a series of unsettling events related to the local community: hints of witchcraft, mysterious animal deaths, and disturbing effigies abound. However, it’s unclear what’s real and what’s imagined. God, I just loved this book. I know it’s impossible, but I wish everything I read could make me feel like this: alive with excitement about what fiction can do, half-certain it was written specifically for me, and immediately desperate to read it all over again. As there was only the very small outside space at the front of the house we felt it could have made into a nice space to sit with some nice seating. In addition, there is a cinema room, study, cloakroom and ancillary accommodation including a kitchen/diner, boot room, laundry room, shower room and stairs down to the games room. I was willing to endure a certain amount of ambiguity in the hopes of seeing how everything came together at the end, but it just didn’t? When you finally find out why the narrator lost her job, the event itself and the investigation after were so improbable that I just don’t believe it would ever happen that way, even in fiction. There’s no explanation for the mysterious happenings and the book is so heavy-handed with the overall “takeaway” at the end.It is the start of the year, the weather has chilled so far that the car needs de-icing in the morning and I am reliant on my head torch for my morning runs, and I am both driving to work in the dark, and coming home in the dark. And it is on days like these when my mind yearns for a good, dark chilling Gothic yarn.

This is what gave us so very many theories to discuss. Either everything is precisely what it seems or nothing is what it pretends to be. I love the ambiguity. Though it won’t be for everyone. This is a quiet creeping novel that can be many things at once. And it gave us so very much to talk about. Everything we needed was there and you are so close to shops, pubs and restaurants we really couldn’t have asked for more. Eerie and subtle . . . This deliciously chilly tale dodges the expected outcome and maintains a delicate balance between psychology and witchcraft right to its disturbing endwhilst upstairs are three large bedrooms and two luxury bathrooms, all large and airy and with plenty of space to spread out and relax. The following year, a Lawrence Newall – son of Lawrence Newall of Town House – is shown in ‘Burke’s Landed Gentry’ as ‘Lawrence of Hare Hill’, suggesting that the house was in place. It would have been two-storeys with a frontage similar to that at Town House. These delightful properties are set within the owners grounds offering a peaceful escape. Each boasting an abundance of character and charm and has been developed with the utmost care and attention providing the perfect mix of traditional features and contemporary luxury. First read November 2021; reread December 2022.) This is a book that is perfect to me. Not a book I am trying to claim is objectively perfect, but a book that is perfect to me, that feels precisely calibrated for me. Everything about the story, how it’s told, how it’s written, the strength of the voice, the momentum of the plot... the slow unfolding, the macabre details, the setting, the beautiful writing about landscape, the expression of both freedom and isolation, the ways in which the ending is delicious and unsettling at once. There are moments in this book that comfort and console me, and others that leave me chilled to the bone – not in a ‘spooky’ way, but existentially. Honestly, probably top 10 of all time for me. I am so glad I have it to reread forever. Generally, the pictures look great in the marketing, but the house is not to the same standard as the advertising.

A variety of other groups including U3A, crafters and creative writing groups, Rochdale DS Allstars and Friends of Hare Hill Park, also meet monthly at the house. Cottage is in an excellent position right in the centre of town and really easy to get everywhere using Chipping Norton as your base."

Any Size Deep Engraved Natural Slate House Sign Name Number Ideal House Warming / Christmas Gift (not painted) I was sent an ARC of this creepy, modern gothic novel by Book Break in exchange for an honest review. Two and a half stars because at least it kept me reading till the end, but I can’t say I really enjoyed this book. It was billed as a modern gothic novel about an unnamed British woman who rents a cottage in Scotland after a mysterious incident causes her to lose her longtime teaching job. She meets the family who owns the grounds and shortly after her arrival, strange things start happening at the cottage and the main estate house. As the story goes on, you learn more about what made the woman lose her job as well as the mysterious past of the people who own the property. Sounds promising, right? Very traditional which meant a little creaky and front room hard to heat up despite radiator and log burner. Property would also benefit from an iron. Take a look at this gorgeous two-bedroom holiday home surrounded by open countryside on the cusp of the North York Moors National Park. This immaculate property boasts generous accommodation, beautiful interiors and lots of picture-postcard towns and villages within easy reach. Perfect for couples and small families yearning for a luxury escape to the country.

My difficulties with this were partly linked to the fact that the tension between the psychological and the supernatural wasn’t resolved in a way I found particularly convincing, and partly to the representation of older and/or single women which seemed quite stereotypical. Although, to be fair, none of the characters came off that well overall: the dog was quite endearing but unfortunately failed to make it to the end. The central female character was especially problematic, self-deluding and manipulative which seemed to be attributed to her being lonely, single and on the verge of middle age: she reminded me of a younger version of Barbara in Zoe Heller’s Notes of a Scandal a novel I found intensely annoying but a lot of other people seemed to enjoy. So, I think it’s likely I just wasn’t a good fit for Hare House and I imagine that readers who enjoy these kinds of stories - rather than get trapped in them against their better judgement - will find it well worth their time. It’s not at all a bad piece of writing, and it’s often quite a gripping and eerie one. It’s just a little too open-ended, a little too conventional and a little too culturally conservative for my taste. Exterior Small Rustic Metal Boxing Hares Rabbit Garden Wall House Fence Sign Art Sculpture Gift PresentAfter the house had lain vacant for three years, the MoorEnd Development Trust, a local charity, took charge in 2013. Part of the house is today occupied by small businesses, including an accountant, surveyor, councillors, an IT company, artists and crafters.