Four and half years apart in age, the lives of these two daughters of Ambridge have mostly run in parallel, converging only to celebrate birthdays and play in the Single Wicket competition. But, now with Alice showing an interest in farming, could the futures of these two talented women be becoming more aligned? Here's how their lives compare so far in... Archer v Carter.
Professional
Pip has no reason to be shy about her academic performance (B in Biology, C in Music, and C in Business Studies at A-Level, 2:1 in an agricultural degree from Felpersham University), but Alice outstrips her with with 3 As and a B at A-Level, a 2:1 from Southampton University and an MSc in Aerospace Engineering from Felpersham University.
After a run of rejections, Alice landed her current job, a development engineer with aircraft equipment supplier Ramflight, in October 2012. But by January 2013 she didn’t feel like the role was stretching her and she wasn’t being given enough responsibility.
Before Pip completed her degree, Charlie Thomas told her about a technical manager role at an international livestock company. Two interviews later she bagged the job with Webster Agri International.
Weirdly, both Pip and Alice have had career advice from Rob Titchener. In January 2013, Alice quizzed Rob about Canada, where he has previously worked. She went on to have an interview for a job in Vancouver. Two years later, Rob showed Pip around the Berrow mega-dairy before her second interview with Webster Agri.
Pip left Brookfield on 25 August 2015 for her Webster Agri job. It was a time of uncertainty for her family’s farm and her grandmother, Jill Archer, encouraged Pip to do what’s best for her and get away. However, the job wasn’t quite what she was expecting and by the end of the month, she was back at Brookfield putting Matthew Holman, the contract milker, out of a job. Now, Pip is working alongside her parents at Brookfield as well as managing Home Farm's mob-grazing herd.
Alice also considered moving away from Ambridge when she looked into jobs in Canada. Her husband Chris Carter was shocked to learn that she was considering it and when Alice arranged to fly out for an interview Chris told her she was being selfish. While she was away, Chris was hospitalised when a horse kicked him in the chest. Distraught by the news, Alice came home on the first available flight. Chris recovered and Alice was offered the Vancouver job but she turned it down, managing to improve her lot at Ramflight. Now, Alice is looking at making a career move into the agricultural sector.
Personal
Both Alice and Pip are closely connected to their families: they both live at cottages which are part of their parents’ property: Pip's at Rickyard Cottage at Brookfield and Alice is at The Nest at Home Farm.
Pip's parents, David and Ruth, were shocked by Pip's application for the Webster Agri job which would take her abroad and were hugely pleased when she returned. As the eldest of their three children, she's in a strong position to inherit Brookfield in years to come.
There was a time when Alice was estranged from her family, the Aldridges. Alice was strongly affected by the adultery of her father, Brian Aldridge, and when she learned that Ruairi – the product of his affair with Siobhan – was coming to live at Home Farm she was appalled. Alice moved out of Home Farm and then a few months later left for her gap year. It wasn’t until after she returned to Ambridge in 2008 that father and daughter were reconciled.
At The Nest, Alice lives with her farrier husband Chris Carter. They got together when they were both 20 years old and their romance was tested early on by Alice’s departure for Southampton University in the autumn of 2008. Chris’ mum Susan was very positive about the partnership whereas the feelings of Alice’s mum Jennifer were decidedly cooler.
In 2010, while on an American road trip holiday, Chris proposed to Alice in the Grand Canyon. They exchanged vows in a Las Vegas chapel called The Crystal Heart and their witness was a man called Brick. (Brick and Lindalou got married after them.)
Listen to clips of Alice and Chris
While Alice is settled in apparent married bliss, Pip is nurturing a bruised heart after her recent split from Matthew. After she put him immediately out of a job he returned to Brookfield in the December and two of them got together (with the help of some mistletoe). When Matthew moved on to other work they couldn't make the long-distance thing work so they called it a day.
Pip wasn't the only one sorry that Matthew was out of the picture. According to her brother Josh, he was one of Pip’s better choices; an improvement on “snoozy-Spencer and psycho-Jude”. For now, Pip says she fully intends to maintain her new single status. We wait to see if another man will catch her eye...
