Chloe Hadjimatheou

Can I have a little tour?

You can.

It's changed since the walkers have been here.

But yeah, it's on the market.

At the very heart of the salt path is this quirky whitewashed stone building surrounded by fields in rural Wales.

It's there at the beginning of the story and its loss echoes throughout the book and its sequels.

It was once the forever home of Moth and Rainer Wynne, real names Tim and Sally Walker.

They lived there for 20 years and raised two children between these walls.

Was this their living room?

Maxine Faramond lives here now, a cheerful woman in her 60s with long white hair.

Maxine's a former police officer who bought the house after she retired in 2016.

By that time, it had been sitting empty for almost four years after it was repossessed.

Rainer Wynne talks about losing the house in the salt path and in almost every interview she's done, often using the exact same phrases, like she's reading from a script.

We were in the house at the last moment when the bailiffs were knocking on the door and we were hiding under the stairs actually.

Not probably thinking that some miracle was going to happen and we wouldn't have to go because we just didn't feel ready to leave.

I don't think we would ever have been ready to leave.

I love how bright it is.

Sitting in the bath looking out at the trees.

Maxine offers me tea and a grand tour.

The place is rickety with low ceilings and sloping stone walls.