At last, Joe's ferrets will have a permanent home.
The Grundys leaving Grange Farm when they lost it and had to move to Meadow Rise was a seminal and heartbreaking moment in the life of The Archers.
So much history, so much triumph, tragedy and so many entrepreneurial disasters. Grange Farm never felt quite right without Eddie and Clarrie at the helm, not to mention Joe’s combinations warming over the mantelpiece, so listeners to The Archers everywhere are rejoicing at the news that the family will continue their tenancy of the farm.
It was a bittersweet moment for Eddie, Clarrie and Joe (along with Ed, Emma and the children) when post-flood Ambridge saw them house-sit Grange Farm when Caroline and Oliver Sterling left for Tuscany. Delighted as they were to be back, it was poignant to see the Grundys enjoying an extended family Christmas in their old home, refurbished beyond all recognition by the Sterling’s extensive budget.
When Oliver and Caroline returned, much to the Grundy’s trepidation, it was with the news that they intended to sell the farmhouse in order to buy their own Tuscan villa. The Sterlings found Grange Farm slightly less immaculate than when they left it, with water damage due to an overflowing bath courtesy of Joe nodding off and a crack in the wall that appeared after an exuberant party.
While the Grundys made alternative arrangements, (Clarrie, Eddie and Joe could go to 1, The Green, and Ed, Emma and the children could return to Ambridge View, although that was unsatisfactory all round), a surveyor visited to investigate the damp patches appearing around the house, and suggested the removal of the nearby sycamore tree.
This triggered depression in poor old Joe (94); the tree represented the Grundys at Grange Farm to him and its loss brought home to him the fact that he was unlikely to be able to end his days at Grange Farm, as he’d always imagined he would. He tried to explain what the farm meant, to Oliver, although Caroline was slightly more reluctant to empathise with Joe.
Despite dropping their price, there was very little interest in Grange Farm, despite Clarrie’s frenzied cleaning. Caroline and Oliver had another look at their finances and rather than wave goodbye to the views of the golden Umbrian hills, decided they could just about afford their Italian dream if they rented out Grange Farm to the Grundys. The rent might be a stretch, but Joe gets to live out his life in the place he’s been happiest (apart from the Bull and the cider shed, obviously) - in his chair, at Grange Farm, with a ferret on his knee, surrounded by his family. Well played, Joe.
