Richard Anstey was the successor to Maurice Westrop as Home Farm manager until Westrop returned. When Westrop was transferred to Wales in May 1980, Richard took over as permanent manager. Richard befriended Joe Sugden, offering him a job which Joe accepted. Joe, however, did disagree with Richard's plans to destroy an old hedgerow and creating a new area for conifers. Richard also was involved in a dispute over pay rises, and in the end, a 5% rise for the workers was given. Nellie Ratcliffe asked Richard if he had anywhere for the Merrick family to stay (they were getting sick of Pat Merrick's aunt Elsie Harker's house) and Richard allowed them to move into a (grotty) caravan, originally bought for gamekeeper Seth Armstrong.
In March 1981, Tom Merrick helped Richard over a dispute about a path being dug up. In the end, the path was to be retained.
In September 1981, Richard began an affair with Virginia Lattimore, the NY Estates regional manager's wife. This was exposed by Joe in October 1981, and Richard was subsequently fired by Christopher Meadows in November 1981. Richard refused to believe that Joe didn't reveal his affair with malicious intent, and moved abroad.
In February 1988, 7 years after Richard's departure, he was mentioned by Seth when Seth said that Jock used to run the Home Farm Fish Farm in Richard Anstey's time.