Discuss The Archers #108: Has Ed & Emma’s ship sailed? Will Alice stick her oar into Kate's love life? Can Shula walk on water? Come and discuss whatever floats your boat in The Archers.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @QuaterMiss for the title of this thread. For reasons of space had to cut out the bit speculating about Oliver and Tracy pairing off. Surely not!

Off now to give blood, something nobody in Ambridge ever does. See you all later.

It would have made sense for the families to get together for an amazing partership bid. Between them they havethland and the opportunity to do a lot.

And yy to the lack of land to rewild
If Phoebe only knew of a person with hippy tendencies, access to some land and naice eco-touristic accommodation ...

If only.

Well it’s extremely silly that the renegade team hadn’t even considered an answer to the most obvious question.

And well done to whoever guessed Pip would ditch Brookfield!

Very bemused having heard the pitches and the fact that THE MONEY side of things not covered at all (at least in what we heard). In no serious competition would the pitchers not be required to say how they'd use the £. So very much agree with pp that the failure to build in any kind of budgetary element is totally unrealistic.

As for the rewilding team not having any answer to what land they were ahem going to rewild! For that Pip throws a grenade in life at Brookfield as we know it? I agree with others that her parents have reacted to her being involved in another bid - but can excuse the anger at only learning this fairly vital point the night before the pitch.

I think Brookfield, powered by Ruth's righteous rage, is going to win now...

Do you thinkBrookfield will get it and there will be an almighty family fallout as Pip sides with the others? Golden child ousted from family farm?
There have been little hints such as Ruth saying everything was for the children's future (I remember as Ruth said 'for you' and Pip added Josh and Ben, we discussed it on the threats).
It often happens with inheritance and farms, it would make an extremely interesting storyline (and I would enjoy it for one!)

Oh my goodness, sorry for the typos. A long week.

Yes that was my prediction about ditching brookfield because well .... drama.

In real life I’m sure the decision makers would be bearing in mind the fact that Pip pitched for a different team. It would make it awkward to award the money to Brookfield.

But I’m not sure if that’s as much a consideration if Pip and Phoebe (and Rex) win, as the project would presumably be developed all over the village rather than just on the family farm.

I think that Ruth will win but Peggy will invent a second prize for the re-wilding bid (after Kate puts her weight behind it). Therefore they can continue the Brookfield v. Pip battle.

I'm surprised Pip ditched Brookfield. I would have thought that with her parents' reaction, she'd have gone with them.
I'm also surprised that even Pip hadn't thought about the land situation, out of the 3 of them, with her having participated in drawing up the Brookfield proposal. They sounded so amateur in their replies, "Um, er...".

I don't understand why they had presentations in the Village Hall. Surely they would have gone out to site - like the Food & Farming Awards did for Helen.

I don't get how the re-wilding made the short list. Surely there had to be evidence the work could be done, i.e. there was land to do it on. Also, has Peggy worked out how to keep strings on the money so whoever gets it does what they say they're going to do.

Shame about Rex being struck totally dumb.

I'm astounded that the rewilding proposal has got so far, especially in the context of a grant for a farming project. (Although I don't recall how it was presented to the wider audience, certainly when Peggy first talked about it it was for 'the family farms').

Where I am rewilding is massively controversial and unpopular with farmers. I've a friend who works for a farmers' union and we can barely have a conversation about it she gets so worked up. There are 'conservation yes, rewilding no' car stickers and grafitti all over the shop.

I suppose this fits with Rex and Phoebe not being hands on farmers in the way some of the others are but I'm staggered Pip would go for it - especially over the Brookfield project which again is the sort of thing farmers I've talked to are far more keen on.

I don’t understand why Pip - the Pope of farming - would want to bid for rewilding. Surely that is the polar opposite of farming? I think now she has shown her true colours David and Ruth will be rethinking their automatic presumption that Brookfield is safe in her hands and - if they win the bid and farm goes from strength to strength - she will find herself out in the cold giving Ben an opportunity to fully emerge from the cereal cupboard and step up to the mark. I don’t find it particularly believable that Pip would be into rewilding, but I can see why the SWs might have gone down this route as it is a guaranteed way of setting Pip against her parents.

Also - do we know who the judges are and what fields they are from (unintended farming pun)?

My listening has been patchy recently.

Is Lakey Hill cultivated? Or grazed? I had always imagined it as an area which was left wild, with a couple of paths.

There's a small hill near me which is just left to get on with it - it has rabbits, foxes and a badger sett, plus bats, birds etc. But it's mostly gorse. Popular with dog walkers but not somewhere you would visit specially.

Emma's putative back garden is available for rewilding

I was struck by their mention of golf clubs. The website says Ambridge Golf Club leases its ground and premises from Borchester Land - I wonder if ...

I think there are sheep grazing on Lakey Hill. It seems to belong to Brookfield and (wait for it, this is cutting edge agricultural stuff coming up) sheep go on land that can't be used for arable. Cows can't climb hills, I assume, so tend to be down on the flat.

Nearly 40 years actively listening to TA (and not far off 20 more passively listening while growing up) and this is where it's got me. I could be the Agricultural Adviser (not Editor now, I note).

This prize stuff is idiotic. I'll be glad when we move on to the next thing. Is Lily going back to Manchester? It's ludicrous that we don't know, as so many others have said.

Cows can't climb hills, I assume, so tend to be down on the flat.
I saw a programme the other day about a chap, in Scotland, who bought cows (buffalo, actually) from Holland. They were used to very flat land. Apparently they managed to go up hill but couldn't work out what to do next ... so they reversed back down.
Cows need to be down by water sources.

Cows can't climb hills, I assume, so tend to be down on the flat.
You don't see them on high ground in this country but there are plenty in Asturias. Northern Spain so they must be able to cope - harder to get the in for milking I would think.

Belted Galloways climb hills. They use them in West Sussex to graze on the downs as part of a conservation effort.

And Montebelliards are accomplished abseilers, I hear.