You’ll be so glad you met the residents of Sunflower Circle. They make a great team, despite being such disparate and colourful characters. Gloria can organise everything and everyone (including her increasingly forgetful husband) with tact and good humour; Ricardo’s practicality hides his touchingly sentimental side; whatever the eventuality, techno man Darren will produce a gadget to cope with its demands; and if an artistic touch is required, Taffy and his flamboyant friends can be relied upon to handle the situation with flair and creativity.

Observing them all is Emma, whose letters to her childhood friend, Angela, record the rural estate’s day-to-day happenings with love and insight. Through them we learn all about dragons in the fridge, false teeth on the lawn, musical pacemakers, smelly dogs and the spooky goings-on at Number Nine - is it really unoccupied? And the wisdom of children (and tea towels) recurs throughout this diverting, amusing, sometimes poignant but always heart-warming chronicle of a year in the life of a close-knit community.