The ivied walls of "Blandings Castle" have seldom glowed as sunnily as in these wonderful stories - but there are snakes in the rolling parklanc ready to nip Clarence, the absent-minded Ninth Earl of Emsworth, when he least expects it. For a start the Empress of Blandings, in the running for her first prize in the Fat Pigs Class at the Shropshire Agricultural Show, is off her food and can only be coaxed back to the trough by a call in her own language. Then there is the feud with Head Gardener McAllister, aided by Clarence`s sister, the terrifying Lady Constance, and the prospect of the summer fete - twin problems solved by the arrival of a delightfully rebellious little girl from London. But first of all there is the vexed matter of the custody of the pumpkin.