Nick Malley is the oldest man in Bridbury. And that is why his furniture-making shop is known in the village as "Old Malley's". As a child Nick swept up the wood shavings that were blown around his father’s work place when he planed the solid oak wood from the trees surrounding the village into thick planks. He used these planks to make the Chippendale furniture that was still modern in those days and that is now hardly made anymore. Nick has been making new furniture for the houses in Bridbury for sixty years now. His father died a long time ago and to his dismay his own children have shown no interest in his noble profession.

They have left for the big city. On Saturdays he has the assistance of Andy Lambert, the smith’s son, who does most of the heavy work with his big hands. On this day too, Joe Blunt from the sawmill in a neighbouring village delivers the rough beams from which Nick, with endless patience, makes his tabletops and chair legs. Sometimes he has an interesting job to do for Jenny Darton from the antique shop if an unusual piece of furniture has to be restored. He recently made the shelves and the architraves for huge fruitwood bookshelves from Balmoral Castle that Jenny sold to Lucy Barnett’s bookshop. "Old Malley" was very proud of them.