For the most part, The Cat kept her private thoughts well-hidden, casting a matriarchal but non-commital eye over the comings and goings of the Garden Family and Visiting Cats in the garden.

Quite what it took for The Cat to take against another cat was a mystery, but when it happened, the other cat would be in no doubt that they were not welcome in the garden, either now or at any time in the future. And cats have long memories.

Some of these cats, having learnt their lesson, would come instead to the drive or the front path and eat there, but oh no – not Visitor Cat. She saw this as a challenge, and she devised a plan.

She calculated that The Cat would be tolerant so long as Visitor’s paws did not touch the hallowed earth of The Cat’s Garden, and a few sorties along the top of the wall confirmed Visitor’s suspicions.

And so Visitor started to eat her meals on top of the garden wall. The other Visiting Cats were more than happy to finish off any dry food still there, and the bowl of water we started leaving on top of the wall became a popular stopping-off point for passing felines, especially in the summer months.

The Cat seemed unbothered by the presence of Visitor and a bowl of food on top of the wall, and so Visitor progressed down a few inches to a plant ledge. She was still not strictly ‘in’ the garden (although she ran the risk of being trodden on by other cats entering the garden and using the ledge as a step down).

Visitor’s little grey cells were working overtime, and her next port of call was a plastic crate which we had placed next to the wall for The Cat to use as a launchpad to jump to the top of the wall. (The Cat’s joints weren’t getting any younger, and strategically-placed crates were a big help.) This plastic crate was not high off the ground but, all the same, technically not ‘in’ the garden.

The Cat was ambivalent. She felt her point had been made and, in any case, she couldn’t be bothered chasing Visitor again. So the green crate was added to Visitor’s list of safe places.

The following year, Visitor’s kittens She-ba and Fennel came to the garden for weaning. Although The Cat was tolerant of them, they followed their mother’s example and were spotted napping in the vine, paws safely off the ground.

And so the family tradition was passed down to the next generation.