7:30am on a quiet Wednesday morning in Seabright. Sunlight casts everything in a warm orange glow, birds chirp, waves lap against the shore. A distant rumble builds and dust is thrown into the air as huge trucks trundle up the gravel road towards no. 20 Seabright Lane.
The cottage sits on its ocean plot looking like a carcass that's been picked clean. All its useable parts hastily stripped and taken away, leaving only a shell behind. Its one remaining window having been smashed through with rocks the night before, a last farewell from its owners.
Heavy tire treads tear up the ground leaving snaking paths behind them, a large machine roars into life and glows a vibrant yellow in the sunlight.
Wood cracks as metal jaws tear off branches and uproot trunks, work has started and nothing stays long in the way.
Before the onlookers know it, the real work begins as the open metal maw descends on the roof for the first blow. It doesn't take long. In purposeful, methodical movements the empty shell is brought down, leaving only dust hanging in the air.
Huge trucks roar into life and bit by bit the rubble heaped into them and carted away, load by load by load.
A day later and only a shallow dirt-filled hole, some tree stumps and a massive granite boulder remain.
The plot with it's undulating white granite walls, verdant lawn and clear sea views sits waiting, ready for the future.
Well documented, Leigh.
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