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Documentary, BBC Victorian Farm S01E04
BBC Victorian Farm
BBC Victorian Farm is a British historical documentary television series that aired on BBC Two in 2009, consisting of six main episodes broadcast from January 8 to February 12, 2009, followed by three Christmas-themed episodes in December 2009.
The series, the second in the BBC's historic farm series, recreates everyday life on a farm in Shropshire during the 1880s using authentic replica equipment, period clothing, original recipes, and reconstructed building techniques.
It was filmed at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm, a preserved Victorian-era living museum, and produced by Lion Television for the BBC.
The main cast includes historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn, who lived as Victorian farmers for a full calendar year, undertaking tasks such as restoring a cottage, tending livestock, ploughing fields, harvesting crops, and preparing food using only period-appropriate methods.
The series was highly successful, becoming one of BBC Two's biggest hits of 2009 with audiences reaching up to 3.8 million per episode, and received widespread critical acclaim.
It was a sequel to the 2005 series Tales from the Green Valley and was followed by Edwardian Farm in 2010, Wartime Farm in 2012, and Tudor Monastery Farm in 2013, all featuring the same core team.
A related book titled Victorian Farm, authored by Langlands, Ginn, and Goodman, was published in 2009 and reached number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
The DVD of the series is distributed by Acorn Media UK.
The show's success also led to the creation of related series such as Victorian Farm Christmas, Victorian Pharmacy, and Ben Fogle's Escape in Time.
#Victorianfarm #Victorian #Documentary
BBC Victorian Farm
BBC Victorian Farm is a British historical documentary television series that aired on BBC Two in 2009, consisting of six main episodes broadcast from January 8 to February 12, 2009, followed by three Christmas-themed episodes in December 2009.
The series, the second in the BBC's historic farm series, recreates everyday life on a farm in Shropshire during the 1880s using authentic replica equipment, period clothing, original recipes, and reconstructed building techniques.
It was filmed at Acton Scott Historic Working Farm, a preserved Victorian-era living museum, and produced by Lion Television for the BBC.
The main cast includes historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn, who lived as Victorian farmers for a full calendar year, undertaking tasks such as restoring a cottage, tending livestock, ploughing fields, harvesting crops, and preparing food using only period-appropriate methods.
The series was highly successful, becoming one of BBC Two's biggest hits of 2009 with audiences reaching up to 3.8 million per episode, and received widespread critical acclaim.
It was a sequel to the 2005 series Tales from the Green Valley and was followed by Edwardian Farm in 2010, Wartime Farm in 2012, and Tudor Monastery Farm in 2013, all featuring the same core team.
A related book titled Victorian Farm, authored by Langlands, Ginn, and Goodman, was published in 2009 and reached number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
The DVD of the series is distributed by Acorn Media UK.
The show's success also led to the creation of related series such as Victorian Farm Christmas, Victorian Pharmacy, and Ben Fogle's Escape in Time.
#Victorianfarm #Victorian #Documentary
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LearningTranscript
00:00here in Shropshire is a farm that's frozen in time lost in Victorian rural England a unique
00:10project has brought it back to life as it would have been in the 1880s the way to travel isn't
00:16it Ruth Goodman Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are living the lives of Victorian farmers for
00:26a full calendar year from the cold of winter to the warmth of summer turning the clock back to
00:33rediscover an age gone by they're halfway through the project so far they've planted wheat only to
00:54see it attacked by wildlife which they dealt with in true Victorian style there's one they've nurtured
01:03livestock through the harsh winter and in their restored farm cottage experience the reality of
01:14life without modern conveniences laughing in a room with no central heating it's cold now it's spring
01:22and time for the animals to produce their young the lifeblood of the Victorian farm
01:35it's March there are lambs and pigs to be delivered and chicks to hatch but nothing comes easy on this
01:44farm especially when the hens are under attack another one Peter a prized ewes life is in danger
01:51the footlots got in and I'm deeply deeply concerned about this and a lame horse may jeopardize the crops
02:01but the Victorian age was one of scientific invention and the team hope this will get them through
02:06walk on the option is animal if they succeed they'll have something to celebrate at the mayday fair
02:15if they fail all their hard work will have been in vain
02:19oh no I've broken it already it's make or break time on the Victorian farm
02:26stop
02:31lambing has begun right defocus found them
02:36got the legs yep got the legs
02:40so far just one you is given birth but there are still nine to go
02:45Alex must watch his flock like a hawk for signs of them going into labor
02:53we've got our mobile shepherd's hut so we can park it up next to the pens and hopefully keep
02:58watch on them overnight good boy but already things are not going to plan
03:04we borrowed the shepherd's hut from our good friends over at the home farm
03:13and just as I was bringing it out of the yard cartwright said to me
03:19I was wondering whether that front would hold but it seems to be okay
03:24but I think I'm going to have to go back to him now down between my legs
03:27and guess I'm not going to be the most popular man
03:30Peter do you think we should leave the cart there what do you think
03:32yeah middle of the field makes sense can't see the bloody sheet though
03:43spring cleaning was a Victorian obsession and scrubbing the cottage from top to bottom
03:48is a job that will take Ruth days
03:50you get a huge amount of dust and doing this sort of thing and rather than breathing it
04:02I intend to take it out of the house and for that purpose
04:06I save my tea leaves
04:08I'll keep them in a pot
04:10and then when I need to sweep I just chuck them damp
04:14down on the floor and as you're sweeping the dust sticks to the tea leaves and they become like
04:21little balls so instead of flying up everywhere stuck to the tea leaf and you can brush it out
04:26get rid of it all
04:32six months ago Alex sowed wheat in this field
04:35it survived the winter but he's concerned about its progress
04:39in some places it's really come up really rather well but in other parts it's looking a bit threadbare
04:49failure of this crop would be devastating a year's work lost
04:53for the Victorian farmer it meant loss of income and he could have found himself one step closer to the work house
05:02in the 1870s a series of wet summers ruined harvests in britain and ushered in an agricultural depression
05:14british grain became so scarce and costly it was cheaper to import it from america
05:20but alex is determined that this crop won't fail so he's seeking advice from their victorian farming bible
05:28i've had a look at henry stephen's book of the farm
05:31he talks extensively about a place called rothamstead where they set up an experimental station
05:36and researched all sorts of different types of fertilizers and the great thing is
05:40this experimental station is still going today so i think what i'm going to do is see if i can
05:45get some of their experts down to give me a little bit of advice rothamstead experimental station
05:50was set up in 1843 to develop fertilizers and scientists like dr john jenkin
05:56continue this work to the present day hello alex hello john nice to meet you and you so uh
06:03what do you think of the uh the wheat crop i was a bit concerned about it myself some of the other
06:08wheat crops around here are doing really rather well but mine seems a bit feeble
06:11i think it doesn't look too bad actually for the time of the year what can you tell me about it
06:16well it's gone in after something in the region of i think 60 years of grass i i think for this time
06:23of the year that's not looking too bad and after a very long period of grass there would be plenty
06:28of nitrogen in the soil right so it won't need very much at all for centuries farmers used simple
06:35fertilizers like manure blood and bone without much understanding of how they worked
06:43world stands but victorian scientists identified that elements like nitrogen and phosphorus
06:49helped crops grow the chemical fertilizers they developed greatly improved harvests
06:57so when do farmers first start sort of using chemical fertilizers well it developed during the
07:0519th century and particularly i suppose from about 1840 1850 thereabouts so we had
07:12uh nitrate of soda the form of nitrogen guano which is bird droppings yeah and then these super
07:20phosphate fertilizers which were produced on an industrial scale by treating minerals mineral
07:28phosphates with sulfuric acid so what was the the impact the true impact of all the scientific
07:36research on british agriculture it was pretty big everything was developing during victorian times
07:42science developed so that we understood better what crops needed and the differences between different
07:48crops so root crops for example respond particularly well to super phosphates
07:53whereas cereal crops are more dependent on nitrogen
07:56so root crops are more dependent on nitrogen
08:00i think in true victorian scientific research fashion what i look to do here is to do half of the field
08:09with our fertilizer and then leave the other half i think that would be an excellent plan
08:26in spring everything is growing on the farm including the pigs princess the gloucester old spot is heavily
08:35pregnant and due to give birth at any time peter's monitoring her closely
08:46she's been up and down here for about an hour now collecting up it's a twig a lot of hay a lot of
08:51straw and then just dumping it in there i think that this is a definite indicator that the piglets are imminent
09:02with princess about to farrow she'll need a bigger home for her new family
09:07so her neighbors the tamworths must go two will be sold one will be slaughtered
09:17it's been really sad actually
09:21always known this day would come but you know they've been such friendly little pigs
09:26and now it's time to say goodbye
09:27i know something's up don't they
09:35peter is looking for the fattest one to slaughter
09:38in ruth's family save all book it says that as a handy hint
09:4448 inches in circumference around the belly that equals 14 stone and every inch beyond that is an extra
09:51stone so i've got my tape measure
10:00and she is
10:05so that's 46
10:08so just under 14 stone
10:13right i think it's time to let one go
10:15go
10:21come on out you go
10:27come on
10:45a damp newspaper is really good for cleaning glass
10:58vinegar's not bad either
11:02but um newspaper to finish gives the most smear-free glass i think i've ever managed to achieve
11:11although the victorians could buy ready-made cleaning products they were expensive
11:17so it was often easier to make your own
11:22i'm just grinding brick dust
11:26and the dust makes a fantastic
11:29abrasive for cleaning things
11:32i thought i'd give all the pots and kettles and things a bit of a go because they've got terribly
11:37horribly black on the range all i do is get a grubby old cloth dip it in some vinegar
11:42just to wet the cloth and then dip it into the brick dust
11:51it just scrubs and polishes it all off
11:59just like a modern metal cleaner
12:01it's an abrasive with a little bit of acid that's all most of them are when you buy them
12:08there we are
12:10wash them off
12:15look at that
12:16there are lovely bright kettle
12:20looks a sight better than this
12:21nice and bright
12:35with the cottage spick and span and the winter dirt removed ruth disposes of the household waste
12:42rag and bone man's due so the bones that we've been building up and collecting
12:46are in the bucket ready for him to pick up
12:48he'll sell them onto somebody who'll grind them down and turn them into bone meal fertilizer for the land
12:53if we lived in town i'd let him up the rag too
12:56because one of the many uses for old used up bits of cloth was as fertilizer on the fields
13:08selling poultry was a good way to supplement the victorian farms economy
13:12so ruth plans to breed chicks at the moment the hens roam freely around the farmyard
13:19but for their fertilized eggs to hatch they must sit on them in a sheltered safe place
13:27i managed to acquire an old victorian style chicken hut it's a mobile chicken hut
13:32but it needs a new roof and the idea here is i think we've got about 18 chickens what i want
13:40to do is get some of them settled in here lots of eggs lots of chicks and hopefully
13:48we'll have a small poultry concern here
13:57to roof the hut i'm using this corrugated iron sheeting which is actually galvanized
14:04and because it's so durable and easy to put up you actually find it replacing
14:09thatch as a traditional roofing technique in many parts of the british isles it's another one of these
14:16rural country crafts which is very much threatened by mass production in the late victorian period
14:23the hut's all set to go ready for the 18 chickens to roost inside
14:30but there's a huge blow to their poultry enterprise
14:33while roaming free in the farmyard they've been attacked by a dog
14:41we've got five here that are either dead or dying and four missing
14:50another one peter we've had a duck in a and e and today we've we've had four we've come back to the
14:58farm four and just seen the dog running off
15:00that one's still alive is it he's still alive and he's making a bit of noise as well
15:05it's the same thing look the same the puncture wound to the back oh dear no
15:14i think at the end of the day i suppose a victorian farmer same as a modern farmer today
15:18if there was an errant dog on the land shoot the dog especially if you've got sheep that are about
15:24to land in that field you can't have something chasing them
15:26now the chicken hut is finished it should be a safe house for the remaining birds
15:35if i want the eggs to hatch rather than have them for eating then the chicken has to sit on them and
15:40keep them warm for an incubation period if those eggs get cold they'll die so we have to make somewhere
15:46where she wants to sit where she's going to be comfortable where she's going to keep her eggs
15:50in top condition until they hatch and then we'll get chicks
16:00these are the eggs that were laid overnight and these are the ones that i'm going to put the hen to
16:06sit on and it's marking the eggs so that i know these are the ones i've set underneath her to hatch
16:14so if any new eggs pop up i'll know that they're not part of this batch and then i'll be able to
16:20take those out for eating fresh leaving these under the hen to hatch
16:31here you go it's often a good idea to put a hen to sit like this at dusk because the dark makes them go
16:39dopey and happy to sit in the first place they like to be nice and quiet and go to sleep overnight
16:52go for it one one movement so far five of the ten ewes have lambed and the new arrivals are doing well
16:59but it's not over yet all the way up she's trying to stand up as well that's all good that's a great
17:10sign to be honest great sign right peter and alex are still watching their flock from the shepherd's
17:16hut i have got a boy's own paper chess puzzle from 1897 oh excellent i just imagine we're going to get
17:24very good at this game with all the waiting that we're going to be doing over the next month yeah
17:29i mean that's all it is isn't it it's being here with our sheep in our field waiting and watching
17:36right this is white as well as watching the sheep peter's also keeping an eye on princess the pig
17:42at 2am she goes into labor
17:44so far we've had four piglets it looks like we're getting a fifth oh here it comes it's just popped
17:57out
18:01but the fifth piglet is barely clinging to life this one it really is absolutely tiny compared to
18:09compared to these other ones here i mean look at this look at the size difference there
18:14this one really doesn't look good he's nowhere near as lively as the others
18:25oh i mean we've got four five now come here little fella
18:32i think this is going to be a really busy night
18:37i think this one is really pulling through now this is our runt i've been helping her to suckle
18:43we're helping him to suckle i haven't checked yet but i think i'm going to call
18:48and dylan because dylan means run to the litter
18:58by dawn it's all over
19:01princess has successfully given birth to nine piglets and these guys are all in line for a nipple because
19:07once they've got it that's it they don't swap around whereas this one is really going to need help
19:13feeding
19:18i'm keeping an all-night vigil so that she doesn't squash any of these guys
19:23and also a little one needs feeding
19:27princess giving birth has been what this farm has been all about in these spring months
19:31it has been absolutely amazing
19:45it's mid-april
19:46two weeks ago alex fertilized half the wheat crop and already the improvement is clear to see
19:58the hens and ducks are finally sitting on their eggs
20:01and the ewes of all lamb little friends look at those
20:12sadly dylan the runt didn't make it but the other eight piglets are thriving
20:18these little glossary old spot piglets are now five days old a little curious and fluffy and cute and cuddly
20:26with a glossary old spot you might have a litter of 12. we've only got a litter of eight but that's
20:31not a bad thing because they'll fatten quicker and they'll also get bigger so i mean in the long run
20:37that could actually be quite beneficial for us you know the faster they fatten um the bigger price
20:42you're going to get them and quicker throughout the 19th century breeds such as the glossary old spot pig
20:49like princess here were improved and it gives them a much better quality meat makes them far more
20:54docile and essentially you get more for your money
21:05the tamworth's been slaughtered once butchered and cured it will last for months
21:12it's said every part of a pig can be eaten except the squeal and that was certainly true
21:20on the victorian farm where money was tight ruth is using the head to make a popular victorian
21:27dish for the upcoming mayday celebration so i'm going to take the brains out first there we go
21:33the main body of the head i'm going to make brawn out of it's lots of little tiny fragments of meat
21:48that have been boiled up and then set in jelly it's also our traditional christmas dish by the victorian
21:56period it had already gone but in the early middle ages right through to the early tudor period brawn
22:01formed the dish for christmas day so i'm just going to drop that into the pot and boil it as it is
22:09and when it's cooked all the little pieces of meat will be very easy to take away from the bone
22:16now i do want to actually include the brains in the brawn but they're cooked much more delicately
22:22so i'm going to cook them separately just poach them very lightly in a little water
22:26and just drop them in it should be fine
22:46the lambs are doing well but there's one more crucial job left clipping their mother's hooves
22:56okay we'll try and make this as as painless as possible for her and for me roll her over my knee
23:09like that oh look at that oh look at that you beauty just gotta hold her steady yeah there's a lot of work
23:18needs doing here and they absolutely stink they really do it just smells really really cheesy feet i
23:27mean it oh geez it's made my stomach turn that is the reason we do this is essentially because you can
23:35see here you can see how it's growing over traditionally sheep would winter up on the hills
23:43and they'd wear all of this nail down because they'd be walking on rocks but of course out in
23:49these plush meadows there aren't the rocks to wear down the nails so what happens is they grow and the
23:54shepherd's got to step in just to make sure that they don't grow so far that they go over the hoof
24:00trap the mud as you can see this one is beginning to do so and uh then they get infections
24:06this is absolutely killing my back this is christ knows how you do a flock of 200
24:18back in the cottage the pig's head has been boiling on the range for three hours
24:26meat is falling off the bones now
24:30i'm very very soft so i'm just picking through and finding all those bits that are good and tasty
24:36this would have been quite a cheap dish to do if you even if you had to buy a bit of pig you know
24:42the head is not the most expensive cut by a long way if you're living in a mostly outdoor world
24:50you're busily farming doing heavy manual labor you have no heating then you find that your body
24:55quickly begins to crave animal fats and things that you might actually turn your nose up at in a modern
25:00living thinking lard yuck dripping once you're living a victorian life suddenly
25:05becomes delicious what's the eyeball
25:11many people really enjoy the eyeballs find them a delicacy so seeing as that one's come out nice and
25:16whole i might put it in the center of the brawn let's see how the boys take to it
25:23these sorts of bits normally get sort of turned into sausages or um some sort of burgeriness or sausage
25:28rolls that sort of thing and i have to be honest anybody thinks they've never eaten eyeballs is just
25:32playing kidding themselves i'm also going to lay the brains whole
25:40now the gelatine is simply the water
25:45that we've boiled the pig's head and the feet and the tail in
25:48all i've got to do is strain it through a cloth
25:53leaving the jelly behind
26:01and one of the reasons for putting the gelatine on like this
26:04is that it excludes air and without air bacteria can't get a hold so the jelly is a short-term
26:12preservation method in its own right
26:26alex and peter have a serious problem one of the ewes has an infected hoof
26:31we're just going to have to wash that good girl oh if it worsens it could be life-threatening
26:41her nails have just grown too long and what's happened is you can see the toes exposed there
26:48the actual toe and the foot rots got in and rotted this away and i'm i'm deeply deeply concerned
26:54about this now i'm touching that toe there is that she's feeling it isn't she she is feeling it
27:02all right yeah yeah she's feeling that i'm really worried now for a lot of the other sheep i'm
27:09wondering where there are over winter pastures just been too damp too muddy the victorian farmer would
27:17do whatever he could to save a ewe if she dies her lambs will almost certainly die too and of course
27:25she has the potential to produce young for years to come
27:36there's better news in the poultry hut where the chicks have hatched we've got a nice little clutch of
27:42both chickens and ducks i brought the ducks in because i thought they'd be safer and away from
27:46marauding foxes um the hens brood them now that they're past a little bit the hens look after
27:51them whether they're ducks or chicks hello sweeties soon the farmers will be looking to harvest hay
28:03to ensure a good crop ruth is fertilizing the grass
28:10the muck that i'm taking out of here is really good manure if guano was the natural
28:15wonder manure of the age then this is something that was domestic was very very similar guanos just
28:21bird droppings that haven't had the nitrogen leached out of them by rain
28:29one of the great beauties of this chicken shed is rather than me having to try and spread this
28:33manually on the fields i just move the shed and then kick all the muck out the back door so
28:38i don't know see if i can give it a shove if i can get it going
28:45no peter yeah you can give me a hand just shifting the chicken shed could you
28:50all right stay when that'll do yeah yeah lovely cheers that's right
29:01the farm will soon need more pasture grassland where their sheep and lambs can graze
29:22the victorian farmer would have scientifically created a seed mix to be both nutritious to sheep
29:28and withstand all weathers for advice alex is visiting the owner of the farm's estate thomas
29:37stackhouse acton so this is the book this is a book of grasses published in 1804 mr acton an expert
29:46on victorian farming has sought out a 200 year old book on grasses in his library this book lists
29:53all the grasses to be found in the british isles right we've we've got some here uh which are good
30:02yielders right meadow foxtail yes it says here it ranks high in the estimation of the farmer springing
30:11early and producing plentifully wonderful okay so so meadow foxtail yes
30:16this grass i think is is very good for sheep's wool so this would be a good grass then for for pasture
30:29for the the sheep yes so we'll have some of that definitely i mean it all sounds very technical all of
30:35these different selections of grasses is this something that um a victorian farmer would have
30:40been aware of oh i think so yes armed with a list of grasses alex is now all set to sew
30:52at the cottage ruth is also deciding what to plant this time in their small cottage garden
31:00according to the book of the farm um farmers as a rule are bad gardeners not unfrequently the garden
31:07or where the garden should be is one of the most thoroughly neglected spots on the farm
31:14vegetables could be quite expensive to buy in victorian britain um there wasn't much importation
31:19of fresh veg so if you wanted veg you pretty much were better off growing your own this is why when
31:26you look at recipes for feeding the very poor food in institutions work houses prisons hospitals even
31:32there's almost no veg because the veg was pricey food for the poor was about grain and starch and
31:40possibly potatoes it's all about gruel so you know there's this whole push amongst ordinary people to
31:46get as much food as possible out of the little scraps of ground they've got
32:02the beetroot seeds in i like beetroot you can plant them really close together when you're doing bed
32:12system like this you don't have to give the space that you would in others which is really good for
32:15a cottage garden grab as much food as possible in the tiniest possible space
32:19to sow the grass seeds the farm's shire horse clumper is essential but as alex attempts to move him
32:35it's clear he's in distress
32:39i spent all of winter looking forward to spring you know and getting out in the field with a horse on my
32:45own and going it alone really properly for the first time and sowing a crop myself and then come the big
32:50day he's lame and i don't know what to do now look he can barely look he's limping can't put any weight on it
32:59i'm just giving his feet a clean just so i've got to have a good inspection of them
33:14and see if there's anything in the in the in the hoof itself
33:19it's a bit of a nightmare really because clump is so important to the effective running of our farm
33:31you know if we're to compete as victorian farmers we need him to be in shape and if we lose him for
33:38you know a considerable period it will significantly set us back after seeking professional advice alex
33:45has been told that clumper probably has a sprain so must completely rest for the next few weeks
33:55ruth spring cleaned the cottage only last week but already everything is grimy with coal smuts
34:04every day and i mean every day it's like this
34:08on every single surface to the victorians coal had become cheap and plentiful coal also burns longer
34:18and hotter than wood making it an ideal fuel for a range but whereas wood burns cleanly coal is a dirty
34:24fuel all your clothes become black all your tablecloths become black all your napkins all your towels all
34:30your sheets and it means you have the most enormous amount of laundry
34:36but on the victorian farm almost everything is recycled even the troublesome soot
34:44soot from chimneys is really really useful on the garden it's a fantastic fertilizer
34:51right up to the second world war lorry drivers would bring veg into covent garden market and then
34:57their return trips they'd be taking london soot back out to the fields in order to fertilize them
35:07it's fantastic for roses stops them getting black spot tea leaves are good for roses too
35:13so a little bit around the base
35:17and actually just let it shake over the plant itself
35:28alex needs a horse to help sow the grass seed
35:35but with clumpus still out of action he's asked the estate owner if he could borrow his horse
35:40smiler
35:42i went to mr acton and said look i've got this problem we thought we'd get smiler out of retirement
35:47and put him back between the shaft walk on
35:50despite his name smiler is anything but cheerful at returning to work
35:55look
36:02To sow the grass, Alex is using an enormous seed box, a fantastic piece of Victorian
36:29technology.
36:30Good lads, you can imagine though just how quick this kind of equipment would have made
36:35a job like this back in the late 19th century.
36:38Just such an enormous seed chest, you know, 16 foot across, so you're talking about getting
36:44through about five acres a day with this thing.
36:49When you're hand sowing, broadcast sowing, well you'd be looking at maybe an acre, maybe
36:54a bit more.
36:55So how do you think he's done today, Lemis Vacton?
36:58Considering he's done no work virtually for eight months, I don't think he's done badly.
37:03So, I think we can give him a pat on the back.
37:10Back in the cottage, Ruth plans to make a new dress for the May Day celebration.
37:22He's invited an expert in Victorian clothing, Luca Costiliogo, to the farm.
37:27I'm very well.
37:28How are you?
37:29I'm quite well.
37:30A bit easy at the moment.
37:31Are you?
37:32I know.
37:33I'm so glad you could come.
37:34I really, really, really need your help.
37:36So this is the fabric I've got.
37:38I don't know what you think of that.
37:40It's a nice print.
37:41A bit loose weave.
37:42It is a bit loose weave.
37:43Compared to what a farmer's wife would have got.
37:45Yeah.
37:46Well, it's so hard, isn't it, to get that quality of fabric now.
37:50Yeah, it is.
37:51I've got a series of women's magazines.
37:54And this one, for example, has got what to wear, chit-chat on dress.
37:57And it's got various pictures of the fashion for March.
38:01I mean, this is a bit posh for me, isn't it?
38:04Yes, indeed.
38:05But I reckon that a farmer's wife really would be looking at this stuff.
38:10Even if she can't afford to do it, she'd be looking at it.
38:12Definitely.
38:13So, in this page you actually get the bodice, the sleeve, and an apron
38:19that goes on top of the skirt.
38:22And on the other page we have got the skirt.
38:26The skirt.
38:27Patterns were commonly featured in magazines,
38:30in an age when it was expected that every housewife could sew.
38:34First thing, I'm going to measure your bust.
38:37Mm-hm.
38:38So...
38:40Thirty-four.
38:43Then down to your waist.
38:45Now, one of the things I read on this
38:47was that a perfectly proportioned woman's waist
38:50should be ten inches...
38:52Ten inches?
38:53Ten inches smaller than her breast.
38:55Ah!
38:56I don't stand...
38:57I agree, I agree.
38:58I don't stand a hope in heck.
39:01What's that?
39:02Twenty-seven.
39:03It's not bad.
39:04Well, my natural waist is not twenty-seven.
39:07My natural waist is twenty-nine.
39:09So the corset's already doing two inches.
39:11Yeah, but I think that if the corset was cut a bit more shapely
39:16then you could without feeling too compressed.
39:20Without feeling too compressed.
39:21I found this book, Common Sense Clothing,
39:24and it's got these really quite horrendous diagrams
39:26of what corsets would do to you.
39:28There we go.
39:29Oh, I love this.
39:30Now, I wonder if this is really what happens to your inside.
39:34I have seen Victorian bodices with a seventeen-inch waist.
39:41That's that big.
39:43That's seventeen inches.
39:45Oh, good grief.
39:47Scaling, then transferring the pattern from the magazine
39:51to the fabric, is a skilled and time-consuming job.
39:55There's such a lot of work involved in making any clothing
40:00in this period that you couldn't possibly have a lot of clothes.
40:05An ordinary farmer's wife like me probably owned no more
40:08than three, maybe four dresses at any one time.
40:12You darn them, you mend them, you turn them inside out
40:15to keep them going a bit longer.
40:17Probably only embark upon a new dress, say, after two years,
40:22something like that.
40:24As May beckons, winter is well and truly over.
40:34The longer, sunnier days are helping the wheat,
40:37grass and vegetables grow.
40:39By June, the farmers will have the luxury of beetroot
40:42and beans to eat.
40:45There's good news for the livestock, too.
40:48The pigs, chicks, ducklings and lambs are maturing.
40:52And thanks to Alex and Peter's swift action,
40:55the ewes infected foot is clearing up, saving not just her life,
40:59but those of her two lambs.
41:05It's time for the lambs to go out to pasture and fend for themselves.
41:09But first, there's one more job to do.
41:13We're just going to mark them and then mark the mother,
41:15so we know which ew they belong to.
41:18You can use numbers, but if you use letters, as we are,
41:21you save on rattle, and every little penny counts.
41:24Because, of course, there's nine numbers, isn't there?
41:26There's ten including zero.
41:28Right, okay.
41:29And, of course, twenty-four letters.
41:31Twenty-six.
41:33Just testing.
41:35So, I'm going to rattle her...
41:37Well, I'm going to mark her C.
41:39Yeah, okay.
41:40Yeah?
41:41Her?
41:42Him.
41:43That one's a geezer, that one.
41:44I always get that wrong.
41:45This one could be a decent show ram.
41:49So, if he turns out to be good,
41:51we want to know which ew he's come from
41:54and which one to then breed from, you see.
41:56So, it's quite important.
41:58That's C.
41:59You want to go back to my me?
42:02Excellent.
42:03The ewe is marked with the letters of her two lambs.
42:07The rattle's made out of a red ochre,
42:09which we've mixed with some linseed oil
42:12and a little bit of tallow fat.
42:14So, it should hold for a long time,
42:18but, of course, not stain the wool permanently.
42:21So, when we come to shear,
42:23we should be able to still get a good price for our wool.
42:26The kidlets can go too.
42:28Oh!
42:29She's going that way.
42:31Well, this is the front of the skirt,
42:33which we've now prepared and packed together.
42:36I'm just going to sew one of the seams,
42:40so it's like this.
42:42Ruth's now ready to stitch her summer dress together,
42:46so Luca's giving her a crash course
42:48in using a Victorian sewing machine.
42:53I have to say, this is a very good machine.
42:55It might be old, but it's very good.
42:57An innovation of the age,
42:59by the 1880s,
43:00Singer was selling over half a million machines a year worldwide.
43:04That would go, Ruth.
43:05I suppose a better.
43:06Yeah?
43:07Ah!
43:08Look, it's like this.
43:12Yeah?
43:13Carry on, carry on.
43:14Unlike modern electric machines, this one is treadle-powered,
43:19requiring plenty of hand-foot coordination.
43:21Okay, just concentrate on the work.
43:22High-tech sewing machines, together with patterns in popular magazines,
43:32made fashion no longer the preserve of the rich.
43:36Now, don't look there anymore.
43:37Use both your hands and just try to feed that into the machine.
43:43Yeah.
43:44Okay.
43:45I think you're actually quite good at it.
43:46Ooh!
43:47Oh!
43:48Oh, you see?
43:49I went immediately backwards.
43:50Why did I do that?
43:51I've lost it.
43:52You were very good before.
43:53Yeah.
43:54Oh, don't stop.
43:55Please concentrate.
43:57You're...
43:58Ah!
43:59Ah!
44:00Ah!
44:01Ah!
44:02Ah!
44:03Ah!
44:04Ah!
44:05And stop!
44:06You haven't really followed the line on the pencil at all.
44:10Uh-huh.
44:11Feel the machine.
44:12The machine is just an extension to your body.
44:15Here.
44:16Ah!
44:17Ah!
44:18It gives me a heart pain every time you go in the wrong direction.
44:29I feel sorry for the machine.
44:31When are you going?
44:32I'm going at five o'clock.
44:33Oh, God.
44:34Alex treated the wheat with chemical nitrogen fertilisers.
44:37To the Victorians, this was the latest.
44:39Oh, God.
44:40Ah!
44:41Ah!
44:42Ah!
44:43Ah!
44:44Ah!
44:45Ah!
44:46Ah!
44:47Ah!
44:48Ah!
44:49Ah!
44:50Ah!
44:51Ah!
44:52Ah!
44:53Ah!
44:54Ah!
44:55Ah!
44:56Ah!
44:57Ah!
44:58Ah!
44:59Ah!
45:00Ah!
45:01Ah!
45:02Ah!
45:03Ah!
45:04Ah!
45:05Ah!
45:06Ah!
45:07Ah!
45:08Ah!
45:09Ah!
45:10Ah!
45:11Ah!
45:12Ah!
45:13Ah!
45:14Ah!
45:15Ah!
45:16Ah!
45:17to understand the science behind it clumpers still out of action but the book of the farm
45:24recommends an innovative way of sewing clover without a horse using a seed fiddle hello mark
45:31hello thanks so much for coming along today local farmer mark morris used one as a boy
45:37and has come to show alex how it works how it works is you fill the the bag up with grass seed
45:44or clover seed or whatever you're going to sew there's a setting on the side which alters the
45:49gap of a hole for the stuff to drop or the speed of the the grass seed or clover seed to drop onto
45:55the disc which as you walk spins and it just throws it out onto the ground so it's a mechanized way of
46:02doing what they've done for years and years before that's right just broadcast something
46:06that so any old tom dick and harry can do it basically if you put your left leg forward
46:12and push it and push it push it all right and then when your right leg it comes back the other way
46:25right
46:28oh yes
46:31these seed fiddles are actually an american invention and introduced to this country in the 1880s
46:38like so many things in the late 19th century the americans were sort of innovators really
46:44introducing sort of scientific practices to agriculture
46:48so is it oh no oh no mark i've broken it already oh dear look the handles come off the end this is the
47:07fourth thing i've broken you're welcome to use mine no because i'll just break that one
47:17it's the first of may and this evening the farmers will celebrate the new life on the farm
47:23i'm making a fitchet pie this is a traditional shropshire recipe with bacon potatoes and onion
47:36this is our bacon from the tamworth i've had it hanging in the larder
47:42i've got a splash of cider to go in
47:44and a little bit of stock ruth encases the filling with pastry using a victorian recipe
47:54made from boiling water suet and flour all the fat and the water hot watercrust pastry is particularly
48:02important for this sort of pie because it's very tough and doesn't melt when you put it into the oven
48:08and traditionally all pies had to stand up in the oven on their own without a tin and it's only in
48:16the mid 19th century that technology changes and it becomes possible to make cheap tins in pretty much
48:27any shape you want cheap enough for the likes of us to afford
48:30now fidget pie is actually called a fidget pie because of its shape it's thought the word fidget
48:41comes from a shropshire dialect word meaning five
48:49now we've sort of formed the pie shape in goes the filling
48:55in some ways by packing them really full it helps to support it in the oven
49:00so it's a bit on top
49:09a hole in the center for steam
49:14okay there we go
49:22last the sheep's removed yeah one lamb each yeah yes let's do that let's
49:26the lambs are now fending for themselves so it's time to move them out to pasture
49:35in theory when the lambs are taken their mothers should follow
49:41the last to go is the you with the sore foot
49:44now fully recovered and back to full strength
49:54it'll be a while before alex's pasture is ready
49:58so thomas acton is letting the sheep graze in his field in front of acton scott hall
50:02should we let these guys go yeah let's let them go and run over to mummy it's paradise field for you guys
50:09oh dear
50:10there we go go on over to
50:19there we are look what you've got you've got a view of the hall
50:22look at that first success story
50:3110 happy mothers and 16 lambs go on off you go go and play with your friends
50:39well that's it yes it's over yes i felt actually a sort of tinge of sadness when we
50:46took that last sheep out empty lambing pen empty field and it seems a shame i mean
50:52short of shearing them towards the end of the year that's it that's it yeah but i question myself as
50:57to whether i could eat one of those little lambs i think i could yeah after it's reached maturity but
51:03as it's been born it's all about bringing life into the world you're not seeing the pound signs no
51:08you're seeing you're seeing a helpless or the nice lamb shank with mint sauce
51:11but i think really for for our first time round i think we could hold our heads high at a kind of
51:18victorian livestock fair and say look nine ram lambs all in good shape yeah make ourselves a few bob
51:26plus seven used to breed off of so our flock has increased yep and we start to look forward
51:31to this mayday festival yes excellent
51:37why didn't that
51:42ruth got to grips with the sewing machine in the end and finished her new summer dress
51:52it's taken an age i think if i added up i think i'm on nearly at 60 hours now
51:57um it's all very well if you can sit down you've got nothing else to do for a couple of weeks and
52:01just work on something but amongst everything it's it's been hard
52:07so this is my first time i've had this on properly so that should be the straight panel at the front and
52:16then pleated at the side and gathered at the back to give the help give the shape
52:21this feels quite nice actually quite high at the back
52:30this is all my leftover fabric some of the pieces are big enough to do something useful with but
52:41these little bits the little scraps i can sell these to the rag and bone man all these bits of
52:48clap fabric be sorted and then shredded down into fiber re-spun and made into new clothes shoddy that's
52:56the name of the fabric the modern word shoddy meaning something of poor quality comes from this fabric
53:01it didn't wear very well um didn't last but nonetheless it's cheap and it means people can
53:07have clothes who perhaps couldn't have had them otherwise i'm really pleased with it actually
53:18hey mayday here i come
53:26good morning lords and ladies good morning to you i say we brought for you a garland
53:34so now it's the month of may oh it is the first of may oh it's supposed to john kirkpatrick is an
53:42expert in english folk traditions he's providing the entertainment for mayday traditionally one of
53:49four important days in the farming calendar you get uh second of february which is candle mass mayday
53:55which is a huge huge festival second of august is lammas and then end of october and november
54:01you get halloween and bonfire night all sort of mixed up so mayday was a huge course of celebration
54:07the animals are out in the field and everything's starting to bloom and blossom and so it's a kind
54:12of relief that everything's working as it should cream and a penny for our cheer and if we live to tell
54:19the tale will call again next year as a gift to his tenants mr acton has donated some of his famous cider
54:45here's to me here's to spring spring it's no more cold weather a joyful spring i think this is
54:54absolutely fine yeah i really think this is a very scrumptious drink and i shall look forward to
55:01drinking many tankards of it tonight as life on farms and everywhere became more mechanized and
55:13more scientific there was a sort of a movement back a sort of sentimentality about these older
55:19folk traditions celebrations like these were usually alcohol-fueled raucous affairs something that the
55:25victorian clergymen were keen to stamp out towards the end of the 19th century mayday was cleaned up
55:32and romanticized leaving these earlier drunken celebrations behind i have to say i find the act
55:42and cider is kind of like the marmite of the cider world i'd love it or hate it and i love it you can
55:49tell from your cheeks
55:58anybody want something to eat oh yes please we've got fidget pie um brawn and bread can i interest you in a
56:05nice bit of brawn the brawn tastes fantastic absolutely fabulous where are the eyeballs in
56:13this there's an eye there's an eye isn't it that's an eye and there's some brains right in the middle
56:17come on give me that eyeball there we go i don't want to burst open spray all over my face
56:22they're all right aren't they it's very tasty actually it's fine i i spent you know quite a long
56:35time with those eyeballs looking at me lovingly in the morning and evening every time i came around
56:40in the food bucket staring said eyeballs in the face
56:42some mayday games involve the new life of the farm
56:58well we're going to try singing for a pig this is a popular game at mayfairs and so on
57:03you hold a piglet under your arm and you sing a song and whoever sings the longest before the pig squeals
57:09wins the pig brace yourself here we go
57:19there's little chance of anyone taking this piglet away
57:29sing quick
57:34she knows your game she knows your game
57:39she knows your game as the party carries on into the night the farmers now look forward to summer
57:47where a whole new set of challenges await
57:57next time on victorian farm it's summer
58:01this is a fantastic trade there are sheep to shear
58:08like the loose skin and cheese to make women's work doesn't make it any easier
58:15alex takes up a risky new enterprise how long is it going to be before i get stung and it's time
58:21for the all-important hay harvest if you get it right you've got a hayloft full of hay for your cows
58:27your sheep and your horses if you get it wrong it could spell disaster for a farm
58:40a 12-year-old
58:45it's it's a risky that's a great man
58:47every time i get one of my favorites
58:49and i'm having a good magnifying
58:53and um
59:00and i'm been thinking to you
59:00and i'm thinking to you
59:02and i'm thinking to you
59:02and i'm thinking to you
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