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Cold Comfort at Bridge Farm: Lonely Cow, Dead Cow, Greedy Cows, and Poor Blind Besotted Cows... Follow the growing herd and discuss Ambridge here!

978 replies

PseudoBadger · 25/03/2014 19:10

Will this thread make it to the wedding? Will it outlive Tony?

OP posts:
WillieWaggledagger · 14/04/2014 15:26

thing is if jill moved to LL she would be "staying with elizabeth". by moving to bridge farm she is moving back home, so it's totally different

BasketzatDawn · 14/04/2014 18:19

Alles klar!! I've caught up on the equine story now. It's a bit alarming that I heard last night's epi, and by the end had forgotten all about the donkey at the beginning so didn't get why Shula had painful arms. Hmm

I think The Titcombe marriage did take place at LL. And Elizabeth must have Lewis still there - in the attic or wherever he gets put when he isn't needed. WinkI imagine Jill is more useful generally but Lewis seems a pleasant house-mate and I seem to recall he got on well with Freddie.

LillianGish · 14/04/2014 18:38

Excellent summary of the Elizabeth/Jill situation Zero - I was about to post something similar having belatedly caught up with Sunday's episode, but see you have done it for me as usual!

WillieWaggledagger · 14/04/2014 18:43

Why did I write bridge farm? I meant brookfield

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 14/04/2014 18:51

('s like looking in a mirror...)

longtallsally2 · 14/04/2014 18:54

Oh wow. Completely uninteresting but slightly smug boast: we've been away since Thurs so I missed TA over the weekend and yet found myself in the shower this morning wondering if Elizabeth would mind at Jill moving into Brookfield, and thought that it was unlikely that Daavid and Ruuth would have asked her without having a family conflab first!!! Agh, I've been listening to TA for too long!!

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 14/04/2014 19:15

Well done lts!

There's no way Adam will sit under this new regime. He'll be off.

And Debbie can fight her own battles...

AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves · 14/04/2014 19:22

I do hope Adam isn't off in the sense of leaving Ambridge! Ian doesn't seem to want to move. Maybe Adam will land a job as manager of another big farm in South Borsetshire.

Swannykazoo · 14/04/2014 20:41

Mainly to mark place, but who honestly has a going away outfit? I went to breakfast day after my wedding in my summer uniform of cut off jeans, t shirt, fit flops.

route1 · 14/04/2014 20:52

I wouldn't be sorry to say goodbye to Adam and his droning voice, there's not much to miss really is there? Ian could stay and have a new romance or maybe focus his attention more on trying to save Helen.

I know i'm in a tiny minority but I quite like Tom. I get really bored of Tony reacting with the same knee-jerk anger every time Tom needs to give extra time to the sausages, it's the same argument over and over again. Are they just doing it as an excuse to give Tony another heart attack?

Nennypops · 14/04/2014 21:49

Today my sympathy was with Tom, unusually. Surely Tony can see that he really couldn't let the butcher down, and there are enough people around keen on getting some casual work to help him out without going for the Grumpy Susan option. Josh, for instance, he's presumably on holiday.

Was anyone else wondering whether Charlie would turn out to be gay?

ErrolTheDragon · 14/04/2014 22:34

Josh, for instance, he's presumably on holiday.
He's revising for GCSEs isn't he?

I lose track of how Home Farm and BL interact; I thought Adam was more Home Farm but they have the big contracting job for BL, for which Debbie was (bizarrely, given she's in Hungary) the manager. So it would be Debbie's position which is in immediate jeopardy - but the contract work is now more vulnerable.

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 14/04/2014 23:33

But isn't Hungary part of BL's empire? Another thing that was pushed forward by Brian.

I'm sure Debbie could find another job, set up her own business or simply fall madly in love with Charlie and build a combined dynasty....

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 14/04/2014 23:36

Although, actually, she may cut me out with Justin. That would be rather fab!

JessieMcJessie · 15/04/2014 06:09

Utterly ridiculous that Brian said Debbie couldn't fly over "at the drop of a hat". If ever there was a situation that was less dropped hat-like it is this! What they really mean is that Tamsin Greig is unavailable.

Good questikn re whether Hungary is a BL project or a Brian Aldridge one...I think a Brian one, because BL probably sticks to, well, land in Borsetshire.

Charlie was a total arse; absolutely no listening skillsand emotional intelligence of a slug.

WillieWaggledagger · 15/04/2014 12:55

I was with tom too - it benefits tony too if the sausages are doing well. And is there a reason why pat can't help tony? Perhaps instead of Susan or instead of helping Kirsty?

Toomuchtea · 15/04/2014 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ErrolTheDragon · 15/04/2014 14:54

I'm pretty sure Home Farm is a separate entity from BL, but the lines do seem blurred... is the shoot BL? Brian seems to run that, who does Will work for?

I reserve judgement on Charlie for now - working for a company which has been on either side of takeovers, and also mergers, his lack of fannying around may not be such a bad thing (from a business POV).

As to Tom... he lost my sympathy (again) when he responded to the phone with 'I've got to take this, it might be important'. Not surprising Tony is resentful - though he also loses any sympathy by taking it out on Pat when she's actually come up with a reasonable solution. (dont' know why she can't do polytunnel work but she's not young and it's probably a back-buster)

WillieWaggledagger · 15/04/2014 14:56

the borchester land history that zero linked to above has some details about the home farm / BL relationship:

" Arable contract

Brian had negotiated a five-year contract to farm the ‘in-hand land’. Brian’s step-daughter Debbie Aldridge would manage the contract from Hungary while his step-son Adam Macy would carry out the work. But by 2001, he was sweating, as the Estate had not delivered the farming income he had projected. Unsympathetic to Brian’s excuses of a market slump, rising fuel costs and poor weather, the board appointed new contractors. It was 2006 before Home Farm won the contract back.

...

The ‘mega dairy’

The market was a walk in the park compared with Brian’s next scheme. In September 2011, Debbie proposed setting up a large-scale dairy operation. 1500 cattle would be kept permanently indoors, and their slurry would feed an anaerobic digester supplying power to the grid.

Brian put the plans to the board. But when Adam learned of them, he refused to cooperate, as it was anathema to his philosophy of farming. Brian was forced to tread a difficult path, contracting other farmers to supply feed and silage for the cattle.

Meanwhile, public anger quickly grew. Many people were disgusted at the prospect of cows who would never see daylight or fresh grass. Brian was at odds with members of his extended family. BL countered a difficult public meeting, rowdy demonstrations at their market and critical press coverage with a PR campaign and a glossy DVD.

In April 2012 the council approved the application. But it still wasn’t plain sailing. When one of the contracted farmers pulled out, Brian unilaterally decided that Home Farm would have to step in. Adam came close to throwing it all up and moving away but he and Brian eventually reached a shaky détente.

Building work began in September. In January 2013, highly qualified Rob Titchener started as herd manager, and the first heifers arrived in August. In a bid to belie the vast industrial nature of the buildings, Brian and Rob named the enterprise Berrow Farm, to the scorn of its critics."

Toomuchtea · 15/04/2014 15:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves · 15/04/2014 16:47

Yes, and so are the holiday cottages. I suppose Home Farm must have a lot of arable of its own too. Do they have sheep or am I imagining that? I think they must have had some at one point because Debbie used to be in Hasset Hills lamb with David and Ruth and some other local sheep farmers.

R4 · 15/04/2014 20:05

Pat is a piece of work, isn't she. I really dislike her. She has volunteered Susan to work in the polytunnels but hasn't volunteered herself. Age is no excuse, Susan isn't exactly a spring chicken either. And even though Pat can't find time to help in the pt she can find time to go to The Dress fitting.Hmm

Adam is back in petulant toddler mode. Just man up and voice your reservations, don't go whining to Brian!
The Debbie-not-coming-back doesn't stack up.

mummytime · 15/04/2014 20:14

Home farm used to have some sheep, but I'm not sure how many. Jennifer used to keep Jacob's and weave their wool, then sell her stuff to up market craft markets (and maybe Liberties - or was that someone I knew RL).

ErrolTheDragon · 15/04/2014 21:56

And WTF with this 'dress fitting' Confused? She's got Helen and Alice dancing attendance, why does she need anyone else?

Martorana · 15/04/2014 22:10

Do you think Borchester Land is going to pull out of the mega dairy?