Wales becomes the landscape of Myfanwy Alice Thomas’s search for a second, hidden Estate: a place whose secret existence threatens the Checquy’s hold over the training of its operatives. Her trip turns the country’s open countryside into cover for a quiet inquiry, while the local village’s ordinary life and the strange spectacle above the estate reveal how deeply the institution has concealed itself.

The journey and its purpose

After learning that a second Estate exists, Myfanwy sets out to see it for herself during a weekend away. She chooses Wales over a short break elsewhere or staying home with administrative records, loads her car, packs Wolfgang in his carrier, and drives west on Friday afternoon. The trip is more than a change of scene: she understands that the first Estate is the core of the Checquy’s power, because its early recruitment and rigorous training—not supernatural ability alone—make the organization’s operatives formidable. A second training site therefore represents an illegally controlled weapon of considerable scale.

The journey is shaped by her fear that a colleague will soon try to have her killed. Rather than checking into a bed-and-breakfast, she sleeps outdoors in a sleeping bag. This recalls the wilderness training she hated at the Estate, including being made to share a tent with Emmie, who shot insects from her mouth; yet the night in Wales feels soothing. Under an unlit sky, with Wolfgang shifting in his carrier, the countryside offers a brief contrast to the danger and institutional suspicion that have come to define her life.

The village and the secret installation

The next day, Myfanwy drives farther into Wales and makes discreet inquiries in a small village. Her unease is personal as well as practical: she worries about pronouncing her own name correctly and expects locals to resent her intrusion. Instead, residents prove willing to talk, and the older women in a hair salon provide especially useful information. She even gets a haircut during the visit.

To villagers, the concealed estate is a military installation handling highly classified materials. Their impression is consistent with its isolation: estate workers never come into the village, while supply trucks pass through early in the morning without stopping even for cigarettes. The site lies in a steep-walled valley, reached by a single road through woods said to predate the Romans. The combination of a secluded valley, an old woodland approach, and tightly controlled contact with nearby residents makes the place feel physically separated from ordinary life.

What the village can see

Myfanwy supplements the adults’ accounts by questioning teenagers who gather near the pub. Darren, Lucy, Ricky, and Maysie describe a gap in the fence where it crosses a gully, allowing them to slide underneath. From beneath the trees, they watch the activity inside with binoculars and a six-pack. Their youthful trespassing reverses Myfanwy’s memory of childhood: the rebellious children she knew tried to sneak away from a secret military installation, whereas these teenagers try to sneak onto one.

The spectacle overhead and across the grounds explains the estate’s hush-hush reputation. Villagers have seen shapes moving through the night, bright light reflecting off clouds, and people crossing the lawns in bizarre gymnastic routines. For the teenagers, the combination resembles a circus and a jet stunt team next door; for Myfanwy, it feels like home. That contrast makes Wales both an unfamiliar investigative destination and a landscape that brings her back into contact with the hidden world to which she belongs.