28/09/2025

Alistair’s booked lunch at Grey Gables with an old vet school friend. He chats with Ian, who admits to taking a dim view of the hotel’s current job shadowing scheme. Later Ian learns he’ll be shadowing Brad, who’s amused at the prospect. Ian comments drily that he can’t wait to be a porter. Brad inadvertently discloses the courgette poisoning incident last week. Ian can’t believe he didn’t know about it and heads off to tackle Oliver and Dane, reporting back later that Oliver’s ticked off Dane for not keeping Ian informed. Meanwhile Alistair’s lunch prospect looks unlikely as he gets an emergency call from Pip.

Stella’s apprehensive about starting her job on Wednesday. Dog care is proving a problem, though Pip has a solution. Her gran and Leonard will look after Cleo for the time being. Stella’s grateful, and arranges to drop the dog into Brookfield today so she can get used to the house. Pip has challenges of her own with a tricky calving. Alistair arrives with Paul and reckons the cow needs a C section. They deliver a healthy heifer, though Pip feels bad for dragging Alistair away from lunch with his friend. Alistair assures her that as a vet himself, Ray will understand. They discover Cleo’s made off with one of Paul’s trainers. Paul’s fine about it but after he’s gone Stella’s mortified. She thinks the dog arrangement is doomed to fail. If she can’t handle something as simple as this, what chance has she got with her new job – maybe she should stick to straightforward farming.