Gabe O'Mackey

Gabe had tried to make friends and even had a date with his neighbour Flora, but it never quite seemed to work out. He was still nursing a broken heart. He could mostly deal with being single, but sometimes he would watch his married friends and wonder what it would be like to be with the right person, and whether that right person actually existed anywhere...

He was still stinging from his divorce, though it was several years ago now. The little farm which he had inherited from his parents was great, but now that his daughter Jules had been packed off to university, the place felt very empty. None of his colleagues at the university seemed remotely interested in the countryside or farming.

He sighed and glanced at the overhead picture he had had taken. It was only a little farm, and a simple little farmhouse. Sometimes it looked larger, but the land to either side wasn't actually his, and had remained simple, empty pastureland as long as he could remember, with apparently no owner. 

He didn't expect to make more than a very meagre living out of his little farm. He supplemented his income by teaching Agricultural Studies at the nearby University on a part-time contract. Maybe if there had been more people in the family to work the land, they could have done better. But his ex-wife Alexandra Teatherton had hated farming.

He kept himself happy. He liked the Internet and spent a lot of time chatting - he even went to a few Singles forums, but he had never found any women on those sites who he thought would be even remotely interested in him. 

One day he filled in an application for the real time TV "Farmer Wants a Wife Challenge". He never expected to hear any more about it. But then he received an email marked "Important! This is NOT SPAM!"

Well... that was a shocker. They bought the land around the farm? How on earth? These television people must have some really good contacts. He had never been able to find out who owned that land, let alone been able to buy it.

Then he looked back at the earlier part of the email, and gulped.

Seven ladies all vying for his attention? He had always found it hard to get the attention of just one. The only person who really understood him was his daughter. He rang her up to discuss the news.

"Daddy, that's amazing! WOOT! Guys, guys, my Daddy's going to be on TV - he's gonna be the Farmer in Farmer Wants a Wife!" (sounds of whooping and cheering in the background.) "They want to know when it will be on, but I don't suppose you know that yet."

"I'll make sure they find out in good time. But - er - what about - well, me getting remarried? You don't mind?"

"Listen, Daddy, I'm not stupid, I know you're lonely. And you never go out. Now you have a chance to meet seven ladies, all available and all wanting to marry you. You should be able to find one that suits you! And even if it doesn't work out in the long term, there's always divorce. You would still have all the changes to the house and so on... you said they bought you extra land? Well you could even sell up at that point, big farms bring a lot of money."

"Yes, I guess so."

Gabe went for a soak in the bath to think about this. It could be exciting, could even be fun. He really liked his house the way it was, but he could see how some people would think it was small. A bit of extra space wouldn't hurt though. He had always thought he might like some pigs or goats. One of his neighbours had a few cows, but he didn't like them, great hulking creatures that they were. Nor was he keen on horses. But there were possibilities.

Appearing on TV, he would have to make speeches, he thought. So he practiced in front of the mirror, explaining in depth why he didn't want to live in the city and why the countryside was such a wonderful place. It was very much like giving a lecture, he thought. This would be a doddle, and at the end of the day he and his daughter would be much better off. And maybe he would also have a new wife!

The next few weeks were difficult, trying to keep up with his own farm-work in between workmen, builders, plumbers, electricians and cameramen running around everywhere. He tried not to notice where they were placing the "hidden" cameras but it was quite obvious to him, as he had lived in this place all his life. The only thing that made him nervous about the thought of being on TV was that he would have no privacy... well, he thought, as to that, knowing where the cameras were could make all the difference. And actually it was autumn, so there was not much to be done on the farm, though he did wonder about those pigs - but that could wait till after the Challenge. Humming to himself, he drew up plans for a small, simple pigsty and asked the builders if they could work that in with the other changes they were making. "Well away from the house, mind, and downwind."

"Sure, no problem, mate."

They put up two large, market-garden style greenhouses, as well as his pigsty. And they built a second house on the newly acquired arable land: Gabe had decided that he would rather put up his prospective wives as guests in a separate house. He had lived so long by himself that he felt as if his territory were being invaded, and although it was small, he loved the old farmhouse he had grown up in. A small apple orchard was also planted.

And maybe eventually this house would become the new family house, replacing the home he had always lived in. Or maybe it would become his daughter's... he didn't even know if she would want to come back to farming after graduating. So the new house had six single bedrooms, which could be easily enough opened up into three larger rooms; a large sitting room and a sauna attached, and a small gym area for working out. Gabe had always wanted a sauna and since it fitted within his budget... "That will really soothe the aching muscles after a day working the greenhouses". He thought he would have liked a hot tub too but that unfortunately, was beyond the reach of the budget. 

The only change Gabe would allow to the old farmhouse was to extend the dining room into a conservatory, making it into a large, light and comfortable room, and planting marigolds all around the outside. "Those will come up very quickly and they are bright and cheerful, and I can make a tincture from them which is good for cuts and scratches - with seven Townie women here working on the farm I'm sure we will see a few of those."

He kept the fence around the house, to prevent the intrusion of animals - and to maintain a separate "working space". This was very important to Gabe, one of his favourite themes in his Agriculture course: that anyone who was self-employed needed to keep this separate "space" to go home to.

By the time the house was ready, Gabe already felt exhausted. While he hadn't done any of the building work, he had been very involved in the planning, and providing tea and tuna sandwiches for all the workmen and cameramen was a full time job in itself - all this on top of his usual farm work and teaching.

The Producer sent him an email with the pictures and very brief notes on the Contestants.