The Bridge Farm secret is out but Open Farm Sunday is a modest success in Ambridge

Radio Times: Bridge Farm’s secret is out, and Pip faces difficult questions

Characters: David, Helen, Jim, Pip, Tony

• It’s Open Farm Sunday, and both Brookfield and Bridge Farm are opening their doors. Tony lends David his Fordson tractor for a display and comments favourably on Josh’s display boards for his farm machinery business. Despite Johnny’s absence at the festival, they will have plenty of family on hand to show what Bridge Farm has to offer. At Brookfield, Pip worries that the visitors will ask about the IBR outbreak rather than what is going well.
• Just as Tony is about to return to Bridge Farm, David asks about plans for a large housing estate on Bridge Farm land. Ruth heard all about it from Susan. Flummoxed, Tony can only say that rumours of 100 houses are complete nonsense.
• Angry and worried, Tony tells Helen what David said about housing. He wants to know who leaked the information. Helen tries to deflect him by talking about Kirsty and the possibility of having a talk from the Borsetshire Wildlife Trust next year. Tony consoles himself by carrying on with farm work.
• At Brookfield, visitors are treated to talks by David on the dairy herd, by Pip on the beef herd and by Josh on sheep – and farm machinery. Pip copes well with a question from Jim about the effect of Brexit on British farming, but admits to her father that she coped less well with a question about the IBR.
• When Tony discovers a visitor wanting his photo taken with Helen because of her notoriety, he quickly orders the visitor to leave. He is upset on Helen’s behalf, but she seems calm and controlled. When Jim asks about plans for another Milton Keynes, details of which he has heard from Susan, however, the Bridge Farm family become flustered. Jim takes their reaction to mean that there is some truth in the rumours. As Jim leaves, Helen insists that a decision must be made quickly, before Justin finds land elsewhere. It seems that Susan will have an uncomfortable time when she next sees Pat.