Rex Fairbrother arrives in the village looking for land to start a duck and goose farm for the Christmas market. And Lynda has LOST THE MAYPOLE!

Radio Times: Pip studies hard, and Lynda embarks on a quest.

Characters: David, Ed, Eddie, Joe, Rex Fairbrother, Ruth

• David is finding it hard to summon up any interest in Emma’s wedding cake. Especially since it means he might have to peel the odd potato. Pip is still working hard and her dissertation is in great shape – though how David would know it is hard to understand. She is still looking at the jobs and David is convinced she is bound to get it because she is brilliant. Ruth is more sceptical. And then Ruth gets a message to say, shock horror, that Lynda has LOST THE MAYPOLE.
• Ed is getting ready for the shearing at Brookfield and Pip is offering to be the catcher since she’ll have handed her dissertation in by then. They go to look at the flock together and Ed tells David how blocked the drains have been on estate. Some of it seemed to be from the building of Berrow Farm.
• Eddie and Joe are in The Bull looking forward to the wedding. They aren’t sure who is going to be best man. Eddie thinks it’s a shame that William isn’t in the running. It would mean the world to Clarrie. But it isn’t going to happen. And while they are chatting about the flood a young man comes over to them. Rex and his brother Toby are looking to settle in the area. When he says their surname is Fairbrother, Joe and Eddie make the link. Rex is a former professional rugby player and he buys them a drink. He is looking for some land and all goes well until Rex announces he wants it for a duck and geese farm for the Christmas market. Joe is confident a Grundy Turkey can stand up to the challenge.
• Later David and Ruth discuss the blocked drains. Jim said Ed had been rather cagey about it all.