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

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Henry Newall had a lot of influence in Littleborough. He and his brother Lawrence owned the first gas works in the town, were involved in the wool industry, and Littleborough’s first fire station was built on Hare Hill Mill, which Henry owned. The property is professionally cleaned; disinfectant is used to clean the property; commonly touched surfaces are cleaned with disinfectant between stays; bed sheets and towels are laundered at a temperature of at least 60°C/140°F. In the first brisk days of autumn, a woman arrives in Scotland having left her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. Moving into a cottage on the remote estate of Hare House, she begins to explore her new home. But among the tiny roads, wild moorland, and scattered houses, something more sinister lurks: local tales of witchcraft, clay figures and young men sent mad.

With over 10,000 sq. ft of flexible accommodation, the house was configured and built for family living and entertaining.

In recent yearsthe Newall Heritage Trail was created: an approximate two-mile walk exploring the influence the family had on the development of Littleborough. I also didn’t connect with the main character, which meant that the stakes weren’t that high, and I didn’t love the ending. Gorgeous holiday home surrounded by the open countryside, situated on the cusp of the North York Moors National Park, equidistant to quaint villages and vibrant market towns offering attractions aplenty. Please note there is a step on entry to the property and there are steps from the lounge to the kitchen area as well as stairs to the first floor

Step outside your front door to enjoy gentle countryside walking trails through lush pastures, ancient woodlands and picturesque river paths Hare Hill House in Littleborough was originally the home of four generations of the Newall family from 1775 until the 1900s, a family which played a significant role in the development of Littleborough as a thriving and important Pennine Township for 14 generations, from 1453 to 1901. The house’s grounds would later become Hare Hill Park, now a Green Flag park with several Grade II listed features. Private covered hot tub - available to use up until 10.30pm. Please note we cannot guarantee the hot tub to have reached full temperature and be ready by 4pm on the arrival day. 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?

After 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. Overall, Hare House is an engaging read with elements of the Gothic and folk horror woven subtly throughout. 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. The Newall family were major contributors to the building of the first Littleborough Chapel in 1471 and again when Holy Trinity Church was rebuilt in 1820. Note: As the postcode is used to identify the general area of the property, it may not always reflect its precise location, therefore please only use this map as a guide.

So the positives first- it's decently written and the prose helps the story flow. Hinchcliffe isn't too flowery and keeps it moving.Either way, it becomes clear that the dying hare on the road is a metaphor both for what is to come and what has been. Did our narrator control its fate, or was it controlling hers? This question of who’s the victim and who’s the perpetrator pertains to the two intertwined mysteries – one in the past and one in the present – that lie at heart of Hinchcliffe’s dark and absorbing second novel.