Hallaton is a picturesque manicured village of thatched cottages and curvy roads. Doorways are bowered with flowering vines. Nameplates are affixed: Rose Cottage, Ivy Cottage or simply The Cottage, which was formerly Angel Inn. We walked around the eerily deserted village. It was a workday after all and unlike earlier residents there was probably a much higher ratio of computer techs and bankers to actual farmers. We were stopped by the sound of a guitar being hammered, coming from an upstairs window of a sweet rose-brick house on the bend, a little mushroom cap-shaped tree in the front garden. Turned out to be the home of Siggy’s friends and the guitar hammerer, their son, came down to chat for a moment.