Bit all over the place this one. However there are a couple of main plot lines linked by Elizabeth - a rather unattractive character.
In the first plot line, she's the leading campaigner for "conservation" who is hell bent on preventing the Finch family (the farmers who were basically on the breadline a few episodes ago) from reviving their fortunes by selling a barn for conversion to a dwelling.
In the second, she's the estranged daughter of Robert, the aged local herbalist, who gets shiatsu treatment from Harriet. It's Robert who provides this episode's heart, as he takes charge (post-treatment!) of the harvest barn dance and acts as caller. Movingly, this turns out to be his last hurrah. Having given everyone a great evening & rather overdone the booze, he is put to bed in the Boult's guest room where he proceeds to breathe his last.
We are asked to think a bit about the rights & wrongs of barn conversion - Jack is all for it in the Finch family's case because they really need the money, but it becomes clear that Elizabeth also has a bit of a point because the other farmers, who really *don't* need the money were also hoping to get in on the act.
There's also the barn dance plot & a minor thread about adult illiteracy.
As usual with FG, no one is really all bad or all good (though Elizabeth is extremely hard to like, with her patronising & domineering ways) but it's yet another enjoyable entry in the series.
In the first plot line, she's the leading campaigner for "conservation" who is hell bent on preventing the Finch family (the farmers who were basically on the breadline a few episodes ago) from reviving their fortunes by selling a barn for conversion to a dwelling.
In the second, she's the estranged daughter of Robert, the aged local herbalist, who gets shiatsu treatment from Harriet. It's Robert who provides this episode's heart, as he takes charge (post-treatment!) of the harvest barn dance and acts as caller. Movingly, this turns out to be his last hurrah. Having given everyone a great evening & rather overdone the booze, he is put to bed in the Boult's guest room where he proceeds to breathe his last.
We are asked to think a bit about the rights & wrongs of barn conversion - Jack is all for it in the Finch family's case because they really need the money, but it becomes clear that Elizabeth also has a bit of a point because the other farmers, who really *don't* need the money were also hoping to get in on the act.
There's also the barn dance plot & a minor thread about adult illiteracy.
As usual with FG, no one is really all bad or all good (though Elizabeth is extremely hard to like, with her patronising & domineering ways) but it's yet another enjoyable entry in the series.
