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Thanks, espebe. Google has got me nowhere and I don't have BRB. I hate clues like this, which seem unnecessarily obscure. I think I'll have to give this one up.

mack: if you can't see a link between the source and the fourth friend, either your education is surprising defective, but a search engine could make up for it, or you've identified the wrong source or the wrong fourth friend.

The Chambers app costs a few quid and has made a massive difference to my ability to engage with the Listener. Your chosen handle might also point you in the correct location for the first word and the solution.

Thanks, Iratus. You've got me even more puzzled now. My education's never let me down yet, so maybe it's the wrong source. The Google AI summary tells me there is absolutely no link between the two themes and I certainly haven't found one, unless it's rural simplicity. The only other thing I can see to highlight (if that's what it means) is a 5-letter anagram, which I discounted.

Mack - the first word in 12a is (as far as I can see somewhat unnecessarily obscurely) just indicating that the answer is from a particular place.

I'd never heard of it either, and it held me up for a while.

Thanks, Sh. Now you put it like that... You usually have a sensible answer for things.

Now I think of it, I considered that definition of the answer yesterday and dismissed it as too imprecise. I see now it is in Chambers but, as happens with some setters, it's one of the later definitions, the other three being much the more common meanings. This clue actually had three obscure references, which I consider a poor clue. I find clues that challenge interpretation more rewarding and a better testament to the setter's skill than those that keep sending you to the dictionary.

I think Dolina is a person rather than a place.
Try googling Dolina and Gaelic.

Re: link - it’s never a bad idea to go back to the preamble and carefully reread.

As per the antepenultimate sentence, the link is not to the four Lady friends, it’s to the *source* of the four Lady friends, and is definitively unambiguous.

Thanks, hotelwhiskey7. I've certainly read the preamble several times. The trouble is I can think of several sources for the Lady friends, none of which reveals a result: the obvious pair, one that appears in one of the clues, a title and a couple of other possibilities. I must be missing something.