💀 Archers thread #132: The Grim Reaper joined the cast; The Bard of Ambridge breathed his last. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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 think Shula will make an excellent vicar, or other unusual things.

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/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-6-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here, 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 many of you for title suggestions. @JanglyBeads said that this thread had to be a Bert tribute so needed a rhyming title. From an excellent field, I chose the suggestion from @BorsetshireBanality (who also has a cracking username).

Check out the last thread for the other suggestions and various poetic offerings inspired by Bert Fry's passing. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/4349822--Archers-thread-131-A-time-to-plant-a-time-to-reap-Discuss-The-Archers-here

So, who'll get the bungalow? Rex, Stella, Pip? If Rex has to move, will he doss down beside his pigs at Lower Loxley? Or will Rex be a resident at Her Majesty's pleasure, having bumped off Trevor for being the world's most boring man? Now Freddie's on the case, are Russ's days at LL numbered? Will we ever hear Jill again, or was Bert just the first of many older cast members to be dedded?

Over to you!

So, I guess the Bridge Farm website(s) must look a bit like this:

www.bluetinproduce.co.uk/

But with the added benefit of an online shop.

(Prepping for The Food Programme Food and Farming Awards.)

@Chemenger

Burningthetoast with butteries there is also the question of which style you prefer. Some people like crunchy ones (they are wrong) and some, sensibly, like soft ones. I do agree that there is a southern boundary of reliable butteries. Here in Edinburgh you can get either locally made ones (which are just flattened rolls with hardly a trace of fat) or Asda sometimes has ones that they import from Aberdeen.

I failed to track down a buttery this morning. I was up early to be at Leith Community Treatment Centre for my booster and fancied one for breakfast.

Not very close to the Community Treatment Centre but Ostara on Coburg St in Leith claims to have butteries on their breakfast menu. With jam, which I think is a bit weird. I haven’t tried them so can’t vouch for them.

Thanks. I don't live anywhere near Leith
but the Leith Community Treatment Centre was extremely efficient this morning doling out boosters.

There was a Co-op on Haymarket Terrace which used to stock them but it closed. Tesco, Waitrose and M & S don't stock them.

Jam is extremely weird- a bitter marmalade is acceptable but not jam.

Asda at Straiton usually has them. Our local coop used to but they weren’t nice.

I tried making butteries once, which was a silly thing to do, given I''d never knowingly eaten one before. They weren't great, but I'm certain that's because I didn't really know what I was doing. Are they a close relative to the croissant?

They are a relative of the croissant, but in a different shape, with lard.

Thanks! Found a recipe with pictures. May have another go. Shortcrust pastry is better with a mix of lard and butter, so I assume this is similar.

In my Jennifer Aldridge Ambridge cookbook, there is a very snippy remark about a recipe attributed to Ivy Horrobin - something like 'I should think she's the only person left in the village who still uses lard'. Not well judged, as I'd be very surprised if good, experienced cooks of all income levels in a rural community with lots of pig farmers weren't using lard routinely.

Butteries have to be eaten hot, otherwise they are not that great. I usually put them in the toaster until I hear them sizzle, but they come out hotter than the surface of the sun so care is needed. They are an acquired taste, my English in-laws are not fans. Terry Wogan famously didn’t care for them. Originally they were meant for fishermen on trawlers, they don’t go off and they are very calorific. They are the Aberdeenshire equivalent of dwarf bread.

So I basically need to travel to Scotland to try these wonders?

I enjoyed Adam sounding relaxed and thought it was realistic. DP has recently taken his boss's job. She has retired but is effectively doing his old job as a consultant 3 days per week. She's loving it, just doing the job without any of the politics. DP feels the opposite.

@Taswama

So I basically need to travel to Scotland to try these wonders?

I enjoyed Adam sounding relaxed and thought it was realistic. DP has recently taken his boss's job. She has retired but is effectively doing his old job as a consultant 3 days per week. She's loving it, just doing the job without any of the politics. DP feels the opposite.

You specifically need to travel to Aberdeenshire.

Are they a close relative to the croissant?

Squashed croissant was how I described them when I first encountered them. I was unimpressed. However, a proper Welsh cake is fab.

If you're confident with yeast cookery/baking, you could try this recipe. scottishscran.com/butteries-recipe/

I find Adam sounding relaxed very realistic too. I gave up a very stressful (but not particularly highly paid [sad[] job) a few years ago and took a much less stressful part-time job. Quality of life improved millions of time overnight. I was very fortunate to be able to do it, financially.

The 🔮 doubts that Adam will be able to restrain himself from interfering with the running of Bridge Farm. It predicts fallings-out.

Definitely only Aberdeenshire. If you ever get to Aberdeenshire please note butteries are often called "rowies" in Aberdeen and butteries in the rest of the county. I have no idea why.

Whatever is in the picture on that recipe shares some features of a buttery - they’re brown and looks like they’ve been in an oven, but I would not recognise them as butteries. They’re too fluffy looking. And they suggest serving with jam, which as we know, is a wrong thing. Butteries are salty and savoury and served with lots of butter.

www.johndavidsons.com/the-baker/cakes-puddings/butteries-rowies

I'm going to have to order some.

Did you scroll down? Look at those macaroni pies! I’ve never had a mince and mealie pie but I really want one. We always had mealie puddings in mince, lovely.

I do love local knowledge.

Dreadful blow here today. The BBC says there will be no official Archers calendar next year. Still processing this breach in the natural order.

@Chemenger

Did you scroll down? Look at those macaroni pies! I’ve never had a mince and mealie pie but I really want one. We always had mealie puddings in mince, lovely.

I did. Mince and mealie pie is new to me too. Mealie puddings in mince are essential- or mince and skirlie

Oh my days, thank you for sharing that website, I''ve bookmarked it to order Scotch Pies and Bridies. My mouth is watering...

I see unhealthy regional culinary options are still more interesting than the Archers.

The only point of interest tonight was to wonder at the contrived mechanics of the plot (something to do with honey?) leading to Ben, Elizabeth and Jennifer all being in one place.

I rather liked the conversation between Roy and Kirsty. They sounded like two friends, Roy awkwardly, but nicely, asking her what was wrong, and Kirsty, who felt able to be cross with Roy in a way that happens between friends.

But all that stuff about messing things up - and she still hasn't learned her lesson

I liked the naturalness of BnB going to visit Ruairi …

Would he really leave Ambridge for good because of one drunken rant from Alice? I know he’s young - but he had years of evidence that Jenny loved him, that his half siblings cared about him. People quarrel in families. Then they get over whatever it was. I find it hard to believe the context was such that he would walk away and never call Ambridge ‘home’ again. Guess we won’t see him now until Brian shuffles.

Jenny’s tentative questioning was rather wonderful. As was Elizabeth’s declaration of the fulfilment of her godmotherly duties.

Would he really leave Ambridge for good because of one drunken rant from Alice? I wondered if he'd always secretly wondered if what Alice said was true - and her saying it confirmed his fears. His family in Ireland must have always exerted some pull for him - I always felt sorry for Siobhan's family, they lost their daughter/sister, but Brian got Ruari who (fairly) promptly lost his Irish accents and never saw them again. I think it is realistic that at 18 he would be questioning his identity - once he got out of Ambridge he would be meeting other Irish people at university who might have prompted this anyway. Alice's outburst gave him an extra push. But I do think it is essentially a plot device to get him out of the way while Home Farm goes on evolving until he returns like an unexploded bomb in the plot just when everyone has forgotten about him (and some new listeners aren't even aware of his existence). I do feel so sorry for Jennifer in all of this - it seems to me she is the real victim here. She selflessly put aside all her animosity for Siobhan to take on and grow to love Ruari and Alice has blown all this apart. Where is Alice by the way - I've completely forgotten in all this talk of pikelets and butteries and other regional fayre?