Alistair is angry. Adam is uncommunicative. Brian is optimistic.

Radio Times: Shula makes a decisive move and Adam feels low.

Characters: Adam, Alistair, Brian, Daniel, Jennifer, Shula

• Alistair calls at Home Farm to look at the flock, and finds a monosyllabic and morose Adam. Alistair tries to make conversation by asking how Adam and Ian spent Valentine’s night, but gets nowhere.
• Daniel spends half-term riding Topper while Freddy rides Caspar. He thinks that Freddy is developing well as a rider. While Daniel gets changed, Shula tells Alistair that she has bought Topper. Predictably, Alistair is furious; Topper is too big to be of use to the stables, and Shula should not have bought him against Alistair’s wishes. Shula points out that she doesn’t interfere in Alistair’s practice, though he refutes this.
• Anxious to heal the family rift, Jennifer wants Adam and Ian to come for a family lunch on Sunday, but Adam flatly refuses. When Brian comes in, he suggests that the strained atmosphere is entirely of Adam’s making. Meanwhile he is feeling optimistic about the public meeting, having had a successful meeting with the planning department. They will have to carry out further risk assessments to satisfy the Environment Agency, but Brian intends to face the public meeting well prepared. His only worry is what Adam might say.