Brookfield cattle go to market for the first time in fourteen months.

Radio Times: Greg pampers Helen.

Characters: Brian, David, Greg, Helen, Ruth, Siobhán

• It is Market Day and, for the first time in 14 months, Brookfield have heifers going to market; David is pampering them with an extra wash and brush up.
• It is also Helen’s birthday; she is not going to market but is certainly getting pampered by Greg. However, she has not kept her promise to have the whole day off but only the afternoon. She is pleased with tickets to the Fishing and Shooting Fair (for which the whole day off will be required), and temporarily under-whelmed by a pair of wellies until she finds a watch in one of them. There is more to come at lunchtime.
• Brian meets up with the Archers at the market just as the heifers come under the hammer; he is obliged to silence his mobile in this historic moment by switching it off.
• Helen’s morning could have gone better: she has had a run-in with her mum over the cheese. Pat insists that they must get the product right; Helen intends to go ahead anyway with some tasting in the shop next week. But the morning is over and now she can enjoy lunch prepared by Greg and the final part of her present, a massage at Grey Gables.
• The sale went well, yielding well over the reserve, and the heifers are bound for Cumbria. While David contemplates a celebratory fry-up in the restaurant, Brian’s phone rings again. It is Siobhán, still feeling grotty. Neither of them has heard from Tim and Brian feels this is a good sign that he will not blow the whistle. With a half-promise to see her on Friday, Brian has to ring off; David assumes that Hungary is the problem behind the phone calls but Brian goes no further than to confirm that it is nothing he cannot handle.