Brian is over a barrel, Alice has drained the barrel and Shula has given it to Alistair with both barrels - The Archers is not exactly a barrel of laughs at the moment.

[PseudoBadger]

Thanks to @LillianGish for the thread title.

IRL, Mortgage companies like to insist (i.e. get it in writing) that the Bank of M&D give gifts, not loans

The lender will always take a first charge but they may well consent to bank of mum and dad having a second charge.

I'm Scots law qualified but from a Scots law perspective Jolene was talking utter bollocks. Whilst the structure is different I would be surprised that English law can't replicate the system in Scotland where any 2 people buying a house can either own their own 50% or each own it 50% but with the survivor getting the deceased's share automatically.

You mean like I explained above Lass?

Shelia Dillon was fine on it. I usually cringe at the cameo appearances but not this time.

Hello, I've just read the thread from my last post (I know I know ) and am interested that not one of you seemed to have heard Saint Shula's great reason for the break down of the marriage. She wants "Adventures" fgs.

So bunjee jumping, climbing Everest with some fella, 'finding herself' in Goa or somewhere etc. etc. She's obviously missed the teenage rebellion years

She's obviously missed the teenage rebellion years

She did actually set off on a round the world trip, split from her friend/boyfriend, was robbed and worked in Thailand (?) I think before coming home broke.
But that was back when one script writer hated her and wanted to get rid of her, and another loved her and brought her back.

But lots of my friends are going off to do rather adventurous holidays at a similar age to Shula.

But ppeatfruit she could do all those things while being married. Her one and only true reason for wanting to be de-married is that she no longer needs a replacement father for her now adult son. Alistair’s role has become redundant.

Yes, I have to admit that Sheila Dillon did a good job. Much better than the usual cameo appearances.

What do we think Brian is about to do? Whatever it is, I strongly suspect he was extremely unwise to confide in Justin. I don't trust Justin. I did wonder if Brian might be planning to sell the farm. This may not be possible, though, with the new partnership structure.

So she was telling more fibs (i can't quite remember if it was to Jill). She's like a 16 year old .

All to their own but you'd never get me effing bungee jumping or climbing Everest for that matter, what a load of bollox. She does need to 'discover herself' though. Perhaps a session with a good shrink might help.

Oh I thought you'd all be crowing, Is that the last time we'll hear from Alison ?

Could Brian mortgage the farm? Or do something to separate out different aspects of the farm? I'm sure what he'd really want to do is to separate the new land he bought from the existing Home Farm, and land all the cost of clean up on Home Farm - whereas "Brian's Farm" comes under his control with non of the liabilities.

Oh I thought you'd all be crowing, Is that the last time we'll hear from Alison?

Nah, Pat will go in search of her. Or possibly Helen, wracked with guilt.
Where is Tony? He has been oddly non-present whilst all these recent Bridge Farm stories have been going on.

Presumably David Troughton has other work on hand. Pity, Tony is central to Bridge Farm. We need to hear him.

I hardly like to mention it but there's a certain pregnant person we haven't heard from for quite a while now. Long may this last.

Gasp I thought I heard Tony quite recently , sort of in a 'cut in' .

isn't David Troughton in King Lear at the moment?

Harrison will have an excellent pension to leave to a named beneficiary -hopefully he has done that as well as a will.

Who is the pregnant person Gasp0de?

Jessie - her name begins with a P, ends with a P, and has a very big I in the middle. It's been blissfully free of her recently so I'm loathe to write down her name.

I'm wondering about farmers in England. My experience of farmers in Scotland is mostly tenant farmers who are definitely not posh. They rent from a big estate. Estate owners are usually either genuine aristocracy who regard the queen as a bit common or very rich folk (often foreign) who have the estate as a bit of a tax dodge. I hardly know any farmers who own their own land or would even be considered middle class much less as well to do as Brian or David. Definitely more Grundys than Aldridges. Is this not the way of it in England? Do most farmers own their own land?

Most Farmers own their land, big estates are far less common in England (although I know a few near me). There was a book produced about the farming year in Ambridge which pointed out that Farmers often used perks of the job for their lifestyle whilst not actually making a "profit".
The same happens with a lot of small businesses. Children get 2 year old computers that are being replaced and have already depreciated through the business to 0. An accountant could explain better.

I am in Scotland. My experience of farmers is there is a mix of owners and tenants. I know loads of people just like the Archer farming families. I know people who are both tenants and owners.

According to Scottish government census about 1/4 of agricultural land in Scotland is tenanted

Doh Gasp0de. For some reason Ibthought it was someone who was pregnant in real life

Hello All, long time lurker, always trying to comment but usually lagging a bit or failing to work mumsnet in a mobile browser. Just got with the app, what a revelation.

Lovely to hear Dan voice what so many are thinking, why is Shula being so needlessly cruel and utterly random?
She keeps claiming she's already tried to work through their problems but I don't think that's something you can do secretly, without including your partner. Also would she have given him 10 more years if he'd agreed to abandon all and go on a pony trekking adventure or whatever?

Is it possible she's just having a breakdown? "I want to travel, but not alone, with you! Wait, actually I don't even want to sit in the same room as you. Sorryclearlynotsorry"

Welcome, Tiger, always good to have new voices on these threads.

I can understand Alistair's frustration that Shula seems unable to articulate how and when she ended up feeling this way, although I think Alistair is being a bit clumsy in trying to get her to open up - she clearly doesn't want to make that effort.

I think that it's sad that Alistair is trying to fix it, so he is trying to understand what he did wrong. Every time he says "was it due to this bad thing that I did?", he makes things worse. When you are in hole stop digging! He needs to be emphasising his good points to Shula, not his bad ones.
Except that he will probably be better off without her.

Actually from some fact checking more English and Welsh Agricultural land is tenanted than in Scotland (about 34% compared to 25%)