History Literature / VillageTales

* BoyBand: With extra years and mileage, a RunningGag for Father Noel Paddick and the rest of The Lads (Edmond, Teddy, The Breener, and Sher). Particularly at the Village Concert. Played straight, these are the only interest (other than horses and boys) the Duke's adolescent niece Hetty ''has.'' Hetty is a massive [[Music/OneDirection One Direction]] {{Fangirl}} ... and not the only character to notice that The Lads: Cllr Gates, Mr Huskisson, Deputy Headmaster Mirza, The Breener, ''and the Rector,'' mind: make a pretty good older iteration of its classic line-up. Naturally, the Duke, as they can all sing and are in want only of a ducal BassoProfundo, has them singing Northern {{Soul}} at every [[UsefulNotes/{{Fete}} Fete]] and Village Concert, and doing charidee appeal C.D.s. With a truly sardonic ducal smile.

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Not in the Woolfonts, it doesn't.
* BenevolentBoss: His Grace. Of course. Yet more obviously, the Rector. Rather surprisingly, Teddy Gates is one … for a chef. (Surprising in that, while he may be a happy-clappy Lib Dem hipster … he's a ''chef''.)
* BewareTheNiceOnes / BewareTheQuietOnes: This is Rule Number One in the Woolfonts. Particularly with the clergy.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Happens a lot, and most notably in ''Literature/TheDayThouGavest''. Then again, that one is a DayInTheLife of a whole rural District.

* BoyBand: With extra years and mileage, a RunningGag for Father Noel Paddick and the rest of The Lads (Edmond, Teddy, The Breener, and Sher). Particularly at the Village Concert.
** Played straight, these are the only interest (other than horses and boys) the Duke's adolescent niece Hetty ''has.'' Hetty is a massive [[Music/OneDirection One Direction]] {{Fangirl}} … and not the only character to notice that The Lads: Cllr Gates, Mr Huskisson, Deputy Headmaster Mirza, The Breener, ''and the Rector,'' mind: make a pretty good older iteration of its classic line-up. Naturally, the Duke, as they can all sing and are in want only of a ducal BassoProfundo, has them singing Northern {{Soul}} at every [[UsefulNotes/{{Fete}} Fete]] and Village Concert, and doing charidee appeal C.D.s. With a truly sardonic ducal smile.

* ConvertingForLove: Averted: the Hon. Gwen remains an Anglican (Church in Wales variety, when young) and The Breener remains a Good Oirish Catholic; and – Chastity Couple though they are, and even were they not – Sher is not about to leave Islam for the C of E, nor should Noel allow him to do so:

* DeadpanSnarker: Forget its CastFullOfPrettyBoys, the series is stuffed to the gunwales with Deadpan Snarkers. The Duke of Taunton, GentlemanSnarker, alone had been enough for most books. Hint: he's not alone. Even his humourless GrandeDame sister-in-law gets in a fair few.
** There are inevitably a fair few instances of SnarkToSnarkCombat.

* TheGadfly: Edmond likes to ''think'' he's this, and sometimes even a Devil's Advocate. Bless.
* GeniusBruiser: The Breener, though he'll never admit the "genius" part.
** A man who kept wicket for England, Misses Nothing.

* GoodShepherd: The series runs on this trope, without distinction of faith or denomination.

* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Lashings of it, as you might expect of highly educated characters, many of them UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}} sorts. SmartPeopleKnowLatin, after all.

* HiddenDepths: Everyone. Smarter or more powerful or less innocent or more nuanced than they look, and most of them have what they and only they refuse to consider a DarkAndTroubledPast.

* MultigenerationalHousehold: At Wolfdown: the Duke, his sister-in-law at the Dower House, his two adult nephews when down from Oxford, and their sister, still at school.

* Northern {{Soul}}: A major plot point in Fr. Paddick's acceptance and [[spoiler: the creation of the FiveManBand]], through the Village Concert. And of [[spoiler: making Sher drool over him.]] Of course, almost every Northern Soul song is a case of IntercourseWithYou, so....

* RemittanceMan: Lord – wait for it – Crispin. [[spoiler: Before his redeeming death.]]

* SteamNeverDies: At least not in the Woolfonts. The Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway (sneakily begun as a preserved heritage railway and then microfranchised to become indispensable to the entire British rail network) runs CoolTrain steam locos … which look quite traditional, but are marvels of modern engineering.

* SupremeChef: Teddy Gates, the Celebrated Hipsta Chef and owner-manager of The Woolford House Hotel in Woolfont Abbas. Master of Wine, Bocuse-trained, surprisingly even-tempered … he can do it all. But all he really wants to do is to be the pâtissier. Preferably with rainbows involved.

* BlackSheep: Crispin, of course, the Duke's brother.

* CelibateHero: Thus far, the Duke. Being a HurtingHero for whom LoveHurts (and a StoicWoobie) and all: he wasn't much pursued in his youth[[note]] partly because he's TheNapoleon: as he says, generations of tall aristocrats thinking it charming in them to marry Miessen porcelain dolls as wives was bound to catch up with the family ''some'' time[[/note]] … until the Dukedom was called out of abeyance and he was suddenly a courtesy marquess, heir to a Dukedom, and rolling in the readies. It left him with a jaundiced view of romance, or at least of debs.

* BadassBaritone: The Duke … when using his high head voice. Otherwise, he's a pint-sized BassoProfundo. (Fr Paddick puts the ''hero'' in ''Heldentenor.'')

* DanBrowned: Averted and, in ''Literature/TheDayThouGavest'', lampshaded with a TakeThat:
--> ''No one at Camserney was quite certain that His Grace was altogether joking when he quipped, 'No trippers, and if you see Dan Soddin' Brown prowlin' about at any time – '''shoot''' the bugger'...."

* CarPorn: The Duke's Bristols.[[note]]No, not [[BuxomIsBetter like that]].[[/note]] For, lo, they are inherently [[CoolCar Cool Cars]], and specially so with a discreet ducal crest painted on their doors. And, the Duke regarding motorcars in the same fashion as he does his tweeds, something to be made to ''last,'' each is a HerosClassicCar as well. If you regard His Grace as heroic, of course.

* AllGirlsLikePonies: The Duke's niece Hetty. Her only interests are uncharitably claimed to be boys (and [[BoyBand boybands]]: specifically, being a OneDirection {{Fangirl}}), and horses. Her mother Lady Crispin prefers that she obsess over the latter. Her uncle the Duke makes a number of Thelwell jokes under his breath, but has already registered racing colours for her and bought her an interest in several National Hunt runners.