Ambridge is in the doldrums. When will Pip pop? Does anybody even care? And Anisha’s off, leaving Rex in the (pig) trough? Discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

Sorry about the title, nothing particularly inspiring in the storylines currently

No spoilers please, there’s a thread for that.

You'll never guess what my name was there.

Hello, i tooised to be on mustardland

Racking my brains here Gaspode - something butterfly-y?

I remember ebearhug, the breakneck adrenalin rush of your pearl barley thread will stay with me FOR LIFE

I thought that it was the latter, that it was more about passing on assets IHT-free than about involving them in day-to-day farming decisions

Agricultural property can be passed with 100% tax relief under the rules for Agricultural Property relief.

There are some restrictions on whether the house gets full relief - it has to be a farmhouse rather than a "farmhouse". Ie has to be of a style and character suitable for the farm- not a mansion. Home Farm is a pretty substantial farm so can justify quite a grand house.

OK, I'll throw caution to the winds - not that anyone will remember anyway now! I was Dragonfly on the BBC.

EBearhug

Gah! I just messaged you to ask if you were Flea Gasp0. I should have read through to the end of the thread

Hello MissVanjie - I think there's quite a few of us here from Old Mustardland (I had a different name there)

Agricultural property can be passed with 100% tax relief under the rules for Agricultural Property relief.

I'm no APR expert as you may have gathered So there was no business-logic behind gifting the farmland, only scriptwriting-logic purely to set up this storyline? Gah.

I remember Flea and Dragonfly.
I would imagine that Ruairi's school fees are paid from Brian's income and not by the farm, so it would not help the farm to send Ruairi to college. It might help Brian.

There’s a Tom - third generation of a farming family - extolling the virtues of cobnut pesto on R4 right now. (They grow the cobnuts.)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b9v97g

I so want them magically transported into Ambridge.

I was on Mustardland too, as Lizziestwin, but like here I didn’t post very much.

Listening to Friday’s episode I think Jennifer comes over as a rounded character. The way she was portrayed regarding her new kitchen was very much TASWAMA (or whatever the acronym is).

Thanks Gruach, an interesting listen. I never get to pick any of my hazelnuts. Every year I think "they'll be good to pick soon" and the next thing you know the american grey tree rats have had them. I shall have to try the trick of picking them when they are still green.

I heard the cobnuts thing too. We used to eat hazelnuts.

So who is going to buy Home Farm?

My money is on Martin Gibson.

They could be planning to bring in a completely new character/family. Again.

Or, it could all fizzle out. Again.

The 🔮 says everything is v murky due to the heat.

So ... In the last half century (yes ...) how many of the First Family have sold their farms?

But they aren't selling the farm, are they? The agricultural holding remains intact and Brine & JD are merely moving to a smaller house in their retirement. Like Phil & Jill did.

We already have a big house in the village which could have been used for a new character. The Tregorrans lived in a house called Manor Court, which my Archers books indicate was in the village itself, and after they left it seemed to disappear. Perhaps an early sinkhole? It had a vineyard and everything. When Carol was brought back, she never so much as mentioned her old home, which seems rather implausible to me.

Listened to the omnibus this morning so I could get as much Debbie as possible. I wonder if we will get the meeting this evening or just the fallout. I was hoping to hear Debbie one more time and if we're now on Sunday we won't get that.

Good point, well put R4.

However. They’re really not presenting the house sale possibility as a joyful (if troublesome) transition to the next generation ...

I thought Debbie had changed her flight?

... And I just don’t see how they can convincingly sustain a story about ‘Home Farm’ if none of the main Home Farm family actually live there any more. It would all be rather diffuse, surely?

I’m wondering where Brian & JennyD could possibly go, even given all the houses roaming around the village at any given time

I’m on my phone so can’t really download a map at the moment - whereabouts does Home Farm (the house) sit within the estate? It can’t be in the middle otherwise that might make it difficult to sell off given that they’d want to keep all the surrounding land.

I’m half-waiting for either Brian or Jennifer - probably the latter - to be struck down by some sudden illness (a stroke? Heart attack?) and for the children - ie Kate - to come to their senses and realised that faaaaaamly is more important than in-fighting.

PS can I just register here my irritation at the Emma actress’s decision to convey her character’s constant busy-ness by delivering all her lines on a gasping, exhaled breath? It’s so annoying! Gaah!

Blossom Hill Cottage.

If Brine and Jenny leave Home Farm (which I don't think they will), does that mean that Lynda Snell will have the fanciest house in the village (I"m discounting Lower Loxley)????

Cant they build on their land? If Tony etc got planning than there is a precedent set?

chicken you'd still need to sell it then, which is back to the "which bit can we sell" problem

Hmmm, possibly, MUM, but that's a really drastic downsize, from a sizeable 18thc farmhouse ('with later additions') to a distinctly bijou cottage. Even with the magical moving bedroom