WELCOME to Haunted Wirral, a feature series written by world-famous psychic researcher, Tom Slemen for the Globe.

In this latest tale, a get away from it all takes David back in time ... 

THE couple were originally from Tranmere but had moved to Heswall when they were both working.

But now 37-year-old David had lost his job and rather than sign on, was living off his dwindling savings.

Girlfriend Gemma - who had just lost her job at a beauty salon – was constantly pestering him to bring in some income. It was now a struggle to pay the mortgage and all of the other bills human flesh is heir to.

This hardship was taking place against the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 and David had simply had enough.

He was being treated for an anxiety disorder, and had taken to cycling whenever he could, just to get away from it all.

He felt he was trapped in a relationship with a sociopathically indifferent partner who cared only about money and going out with her friends twice a week.

Gemma never once asked him to go with her and when he had once hinted that he’d be better off ending it all, she had said: "That's right, don't think about me. If you topped yourself I'd have to go and live in me mum's and I’d have nothing. She'd have me stacking shelves at Tesco."

And now, on this sunny morning in June 2008, she had told David he'd have to sell his bike on eBay. "You won't get the full whack for it but it'd be something. I reckon you'd get about £400."

David burst into tears and ignored her pleas to stop 'acting like a big baby'

He put on his cycling shorts, tee shirt, helmet and trainers, crammed some high energy bars and drinks into his rucksack and pedalled away.

He heard the screams and her profanities fade into the distance.

One goal was on David’s mind: to get clean away from all the bills, the mortgage and most of all – Gemma. 

The sun was beating down and there was a zephyr of optimism in the air as he headed north up Barnston Road, his green escape route out of "The Drag" as David termed modern life.

He flew up that lane now and smiled as he pictured Gemma trying to call him, but he had left the phone behind.

Somewhere near Station Road, just past Ley Farm, David saw a lane he had never noticed before.

He decelerated and went back. He cycled down the lane and gradually noticed the utter stillness; no rumble of traffic from the M53 – but why?

He then saw that the motorway was not there and freewheeled along mulling over this when it occurred to him that the huge pylons down here had also vanished.

David continued on his way down the unknown lane and came upon a rural scene straight from the canvas of John Constable: a sandstone cottage with a thatched roof, with a little garden at the side of it hemmed in by a picket fence, and two middle-aged women dressed in attire that could easily pass for 19th century clothing. Both women had their hair tied up in buns.

A boy came out the cottage – in a flat cap – and he wore a waistcoat and white shirt.

The penny was now starting to drop in David's mind. Surely, he had not cycled back into Victorian times?

Could they be filming some historic drama here and were these extras?

Something told him this was not the case.

Then he saw a beautiful young woman who had honey-blonde hair done up in a bun, and an angelic face and was wearing a white blouse and long brown calf-length skirt and boots. She was carrying a pail to the cottage.

She halted and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand to look at David.

David cycled towards her and she hurried away and went into the cottage, then came out with a small rosy-cheeked man in a straw hat.

David got the impression it was the girl's father.

He smiled at David and seemed fascinated by the bicycle, and David told the man he was lost and that he'd come from Heswall.

The man introduced himself as Mr Brown and was very hospitable. He brought David a tankard of cider and asked if he could ride the bike. 

David let him, but Mr Brown fell off the machine. Then his son Arthur – the boy in the flat cap – had a go and managed to cycle away down the lane.

The young woman David had seen – her name was Daisy – asked him where he was from and what his name was. Her father said: "Stop your prying Daisy."

David went into the house – and did not see any ceiling lights, TV, radio or any switches – just oil lamps and lanterns hanging from a low-beamed ceiling.

He didn't want to ask what year it was, or to tell them he was from the year 2008 because he feared everything around him would dissolve like a dream upon waking.

The Brown family and their friends accepted him, and told him he was welcome to stay for a while, and David almost wept.

Daisy held his hand when she saw him on the brink of tears, and her father coughed and said: "Nay, Daisy, let him be."

David stayed overnight, and listened to Mr Brown and his wife Joan speak of lovely reminiscences by the light of a fire.

In the morning, David had breakfast and then he got on the bike and coaxed Daisy to sit on his knee with her legs over the handlebars and he nearly crashed because they couldn’t stop laughing.

They spent an hour sitting in a field of corn, and he told her about his awful life 'back there'.

David closed his eyes. When he opened them, the young woman was gone.

The sandstone cottage could not be found, and when David returned home, he saw his house up for sale. Gemma had gone back to her mum after being evicted.

It transpired that David had been away for weeks.

He still looks for that cottage, and Daisy.

• All of Tom Slemen’s books and audiobooks are on Amazon.