Greg drops a clanger: he tells Pat what he should have told Helen.

Radio Times: Greg should watch his back.

Characters: Elizabeth, Greg, Helen, Jill, Pat, Phil, Tony

• At Bridge Farm some experimental cheesemaking is in progress and it involves a lot of stirring. According to Helen the main ingredient is patience, so Tony should not expect it to be ready for two weeks, although there may be a sample tonight.
• Elizabeth finds Jill tending a bonfire at Glebe Cottage as she brings the garden into her own style. The ensuing conversation is about Christmas and in the middle of it Phil returns from his rather extended morning milking duty at Brookfield. Jill realises that David and Ruth cannot leave the farm; she would love to cook Christmas dinner but cannot offer, for fear of offending Ruth. Elizabeth thinks that Ruth must be dreading cooking Christmas dinner and would gladly accept if Jill offered; she is dead right there. The verdict is that they must wait and see if Ruth brings it up.
• Greg and Helen are going out for a drink and a bite but, while he waits, Greg is persuaded to sample this morning’s cheesemaking effort. The cheese being very immature, he feels it is rather tasteless and has a rubbery texture; that’s as it should be, apparently. Pat, probing a little about the forthcoming trip to France, asks a very direct question and Greg, honourable chap that he is, cannot lie: he tells her what he has not yet managed to tell Helen, that his ex-wife Michelle has split from her partner Pascal. Helen’s hair has dried just in time for her to hear this, so the reception Greg receives is a tad brusque. He had meant to tell her but had not found the right moment. He did not want to worry her but he worries her all the time. It keeps happening. If he cannot be honest, this relationship is over.