Archers thread #185: Some farming would be nice. Discuss The Archers here.

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

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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.)

Over to you!

Why would anyone want a piece of human-made junk in an area devoted to 'rewilding'? It's deeply inappropriate. Dartmoor had to endure a giant chair, about fifty feet high, in recent years, and north Norfolk has a ghastly wrought-iron horse in one of its most picturesque (otherwise) harbours.

I was thinking it’s a piece of art that would be in a clearing where they do educational stuff and may be educational itself in some form. Odd idea for Peggy though

I am no wine buff and I only vaguely know what Viogniers is. I don't have any problem thinking Lilian went into the shop for salted almonds and so forth, and on impulse bought a bottle of wine too, in spite of having dozens of bottles in the cellar. This is one of the less implausible things we've been asked to accept in recent months.

The mass holiday sounds like hell on earth. I can't help speculating that the plane carrying the entire Home Farm and Bridge Farm clan might crash, leading to a great re-set shortly after the 75th anniverary episode. Ambridge!, perhaps, or Beechwood Close. The Brookfield Archers might all have left by then in search of somewhere safer to live, given David's qualms about Open Farm Sunday. We hear so little of them now we would scarcely notice.

I wish we were just having a straightforward inheritance row. There are plenty reported on MN for inspiration.

I also think Justin has a large wine cellar, but I can also imagine Lilian not being allowed to touch it, especially not for Tom and Helen.

@devoncreamtea I too have a creeping suspicion about Joy and Brian.

I’m still baffled by the wide variety of goods in a small village shop

I’m fairly confident that my local Coop (the Southern one, not the one with the blue logo; ours appears to have been okay) usually has some Viognier in the fridge. It also has freezers of Cook ready meals and local cakes/biscuits/honey as I think the manager has a fair bit of discretion about what to buy.

Wine buffs tend to store their decent wine in professionally managed cellars to keep it from prying corkscrews.

I would expect Brian/Lillian to get a monthly case or 4 from the Wine Society or Laithwaites etc (or perhaps the Fairbrothers’ Co) for “during the week”.

Did they really manage to shoehorn Joy into the episode again!

I don't think I've ever heard of it.

I like that horse (Wells next the sea?) It's a bit ghostly.

I’m a Will writer and often get clients who want to leave a pecuniary legacy to a friend/group of friends and stipulate that it must be used for a holiday or whatever.

i gently steer them towards expressing that as a wish, not a demand.

It really is a very nice wine, good choice by Lilian. Sainsbury's do a couple of good ones.

I just think it’s funny that Peggy supposedly wanted a big family holiday when I can’t even remember her bothering to fly to see Kate/later Kate’s kids in SA.

Our village shop (independent) has lots of very artisan, deli and local produce (and cook meals). It sells some quite random stuff. But the wine is Aldi…

Our tiny independent village shop is noted for its amazing wine selection and runs wine tasting evenings. People come from all over to buy wine there. It's quite normal to be queuing up to buy, say, a punnet of strawberries or a book of stamps behind some one who is paying hundreds of pounds for a a couple of cases of wine they have ordered.

I think the holiday provision was pure malice on Peggy's part. She must have died laughing, knowing that it would be a nightmare.

I shall laugh along with her if she has gone further, and added an as-yet undiscovered codicil to the effect that everyone over the age of 18 who goes on the Holiday From Hell gets a share in the residue of her estate (unless Christine manages to live long enough so that it all gets spent, which would be terrific), but anyone who doesn't, well ... only gets the bizarre amount. Perhaps the £280-and-change is meant to cover the cost of a passport and a shared cab to and from the airport? Rex will be busy.

What does Christine's son do that earns him enough money to pay what must be very expensive care home fees?

Isn't he in a classical orchestra in Germany or something? You know, renowned for being really lucrative...

I remember viognier being touted as the new kid on the block in the UK before I left in the early 2000s. Not that it was new, just looking for something to counter the very oaky Chardonnays and Blue Nun-like Marlborough Sav Blancs.
Now the last two have reined in their worst excesses I now see Chardonnay being marketed as "buttery". Literally. On the label.

When I was last in the UK a couple of years ago, every restaurant had Picpoul at the top of the wine list.

Well apparently he’s not paying the fees if Peggy is

I was going to mention Picpoul. Viognier was the new Chardonnay and Picpoul is the new Viognier.

Why have the SWs forgotten that Auntie Christine's son is supposed to be paying her care fees? Why would Piggoi be paying them into infinity anyway? That's more (potentially much more) than Auntie C lost in the horse scam.

I have no words for the daftness of the meat is murder protest but I did know some Animal Liberation Front people in the '80s and Saskia sounds uncannily like one of the bossy-mumsy middle-class women heavily involved in it.

I hope the family holiday will be like The Counting from Cold Comfort Farm set on a Greek Island.

I worked in nature conservation for over a decade. Unfortunately it's very common for people to want to donate towards an artwork (preferably of their own personal taste, but of course), but no one wants to pay for staff time for basic maintenance - or even towards staff time associated with organising the artwork. It's also very easy to get grants for one-off projects from funders like the lottery or arts council, but not funding as a long term commitment. Thankfully since covid funders are slowly moving towards full cost recovery.

And let's not even get started on the 'generous' artists who kindly offer to make art for you and you're supposed to be grateful 🙄 (they usually also promise funding or potential donors that never materialis). Looks like the giant chair on Dartmoor mentioned by @muddyford was one of those, though put on the artist's own land.

I'm a tad jaded 😅

I did too. And don't get me started on memorial seats. DH was in a different area of charity work after leaving the armed forces and ran into the same issues. He refused to put plaques on anything, saying he didn't want the place looking like the crematorium garden...

Oh gawd, memorial seats! Post-Covid they have bred like rabbits around here, particularly on the green areas at the top of the cliffs, above the coastal path. The name/date plaque always includes something like "She loved this place" which makes me think "Well, she wouldn't love it now, littered with benches covered in rotting, plastic-wrapped flowers."

Plastic-wrapped flowers. I remember from the news when Princess Diana died, the sea of bloody plastic!

Interesting on memorial plaques - I suppose it depends on whether it’s an area that suits benches. My local park has a lot of benches because it was designed to be a giant garden for those in the area. The plaques are lovely. My German mil had never seen them before and we spent and afternoon looking at them all! She was quite surprised when we came across a celebrity!!

plastic wrapping round flowers should be banned!!