BBC’s web page on Borchester Land has only a few words on the next episode in the history of Grange Farm: Matt (Crawford) had little patience with the Grundy family, who chaotically ran the ramshackle Grange Farm. In 2000, they were evicted for non-payment of rent. The farmhouse and 50 acres were sold to the much more acceptable Oliver Sterling.
However, reading the rest of that blog will give you an idea of BL’s motivations. They had a view on what their land was for, and it wasn’t to provide farming opportunities for small tenant farmers. No, profit tends to be the motivator for this modern landowner, and the rental income paid by the Grundies wouldn’t compare with the profit that could be generated by selling Grange Farm with vacant possession – that is, without a sitting tenant. Further into the new century, BL turned their sights on their other farm tenancy, at Pat and Tony Archer’s farm; but that’s not part of the Grange Farm history we’re considering here.
This contemporaneous article from the Guardian explores the reasons for their eviction in a bit more detail. In this, Vanessa Whitburn (then editor) quotes from a document from the National Farmers' Union, that claims one in 12 jobs in agriculture was lost in the year to June 1999. She goes on to say "Even six months ago, it was obvious that farming was going through its worst crisis since the 30s. And the most vulnerable, apart from hill farmers, are small-scale tenant farmers like the Grundys. This is what can happen to people like them." So, the catastrophes that the scriptwriters threw at them, fire, pestilence and BVD - bovine virus diarrhoea (urrgh) – have left them bankrupt and unable to pay their rent. This is BL’s chance to raise some capital by selling their home, and the Grundies are served with an eviction notice.
The writer, Peter Kerry, says "Just when Eddie, Joe and Clarrie had lost everything, I came along and smote them another blow. It's a bit below the belt. We discussed long and hard whether it would make the show too depressing.” The Archers has never shied away from depicting the depressing side of life in the country, whatever some critics of the current Helen/Rob storyline say. The outcome of their eviction was incredibly depressing, for any listener who has empathy with a family suffering real deprivation.
Joe, Clarrie, Eddie and Ed (apart from Clarrie, they've never known any other home than Grange Farm) move out of the farm and into a council flat in an unloved tower block in Borchester. With their home goes their living, as they've always worked as farmers. How can you earn a living from farming when you don't have a farm?
William is classed by the Council as an adult and as such, not eligible for housing. He goes to live in with his godmother, Caroline Pemberton (nee Bone). His daily life, junior gamekeeper at Brian Aldridge’s shoot, continues – early starts on the shoot are only possible if he lives in Ambridge.
Back at the flat, Eddie and Clarrie manage to get some relief from the four walls in their work (Eddie finds casual work using his transferrable skills.. from tractor driving to dumper driver on the building sites) and Clarrie still works at her jobs in Ambridge, barmaid, dairy worker. The other generations don’t fare so well though.
Ed has to share a bedroom with Joe and doesn’t like it; Joe has nothing to take him out of the flat. At his age (he’s in his late 70s at this time), he’s too old to find work to fill the time he previously spent working on the farm. His only pleasure is feeding the ferrets, and when the council tell them they can’t keep pets in the flat, he takes it hard. The need to remove the ferrets causes friction between Clarrie and Eddie, since Eddie wants to ignore the landlord’s instructions about the ferrets. Around 3 months after they moved into the flat, Joe takes the matter into his own hands in a terrible way. We hear Joe go to fetch a hammer, cooing to one of the ferrets as he does so, and the scene cuts away… Later Eddie finds the ferrets all dead on the kitchen table, and Joe looking serene.
Joe has solved the problem that was threatening his son’s marriage, and secured the flat tenancy for a while longer. Unfortunately his desperate act can’t resolve all their problems, and with Joe, Eddie and Edward all acting selfishly due to their depressing circumstances, only Clarrie is left to keep spirits up.. and she can’t carry the burden all on her own. After a blazing row, Joe goes missing, and it later transpires he walked home to Ambridge and spent some nights outside. He’s later found by Will, on open ground on Grange Farm, suffering from dehydration and exposure, and near to death. It’s seeing Joe so ill and unhappy in the hospital bed that makes Eddie vow to move back to Ambridge, whatever it takes.
In the next blog, we’ll look at what’s been happening at Grange Farm in the Grundies’ absence, and how Ed’s been coping with being a teenager. Bad enough for any teen, but so much worse if you’ve no money and have just lost the only home you’ve ever known.