Despite his stutter, the boy was giving him a surprising amount of detail. He knew that many people would have grown tired of his questions already, turned him about on the spot and wished him good luck. He should probably try to have more patience, but it didn't really come naturally to him - especially when he could feel himself starting to get a little panicked.
"Can you read the writing?" he asked, wondering if he meant it was strange but English, or strange and foreign. He couldn't think of anywhere he knew with long white corridors, lots of doors, no windows... oh. Oh, shit. He couldn't see properly, the boy couldn't speak properly - it was obvious, really. They'd been institutionalised.
He didn't know what the Barrens meant, but he supposed any part of the Yorkshire countryside might be described as a barren. Either way, he could assume it was somewhere out of doors, and not... this. "I suppose we had better try a door. None of them look like they might lead outside?" he suggested, trying to sound calm, like he actually believed they might be allowed to leave again.