Victorian Farm | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stuart Elliott |
Starring | Peter Ginn Ruth Goodman Alex Langlands |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Producer | David Upshal |
Running time | 1 hour per episode |
Production company | Lion Television |
Original release | |
Network | BBC Two |
Release | 8 January – 24 December 2009 |
Victorian Farm is a British historical documentary TV series in six parts, first shown on BBC Two in January 2009, and followed by three Christmas-themed parts in December of the same year. The series, the second in the BBC historic farm series, recreates everyday life on a farm in Shropshire in the 1880s, using authentic replica equipment and clothing, original recipes and reconstructed building techniques. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television [1] and filmed at a preserved Victorian era living museum farm, Acton Scott Historic Working Farm, Shropshire. [2] The farming team was historian Ruth Goodman, and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn.
Much use was made of period sources such as The Book of the Farm: Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-maid by Dr Henry Stephens, first published in London in 1844. [3]
The series was one of BBC Two's biggest hits of 2009, with audiences of up to 3.8 million per episode. [4] [5] [6] It was highly praised by reviewers. [7] [8]
A corollary miniseries, Victorian Farm Christmas, comprised three episodes aired at Christmastime in 2009. [9]
An associated book by Langlands, Ginn and Goodman, also titled Victorian Farm, was published in 2009. [10] The book reached number one on the Sunday Times best seller list in February 2009. [11]
The series is a sequel to Tales from the Green Valley , shown on BBC Two in 2005. [12] The BBC commissioned two follow-ups with the same production team and cast: Victorian Farm Christmas, [13] which aired in December 2009, and Edwardian Farm , aired from November 2010. [14] [15] In September 2012 the same cast returned with the third instalment of the BBC Farm series: Wartime Farm . The fourth installment came in 2013, Tudor Monastery Farm . Various Christmas specials were also broadcast.
This was first broadcast on Thursday 8 January 2009 at 9 pm. The would-be farmers move into a disused cottage. This requires much renovation: replacing the coal-burning range, cleaning the chimney and refuelling from a narrowboat on a nearby canal; cleaning the bedroom by removing dead birds, disinfecting against bedbugs with turpentine and salt, restoring the lime plaster and redecorating.
In accordance with custom, they assist in the threshing of the previous year's crop of wheat, using a steam-powered thresher. A field is ploughed, harrowed and sown with the next year's crop using horse-drawn implements of the era. Apples are picked, milled and pressed to make cider while other fruits and berries are preserved as a spicy chutney.
A flock of Shropshire ewes is acquired and the first meal is cooked and eaten: a leg of boiled mutton. [16]
As winter draws on, animal fodder and shelter is provided. Mangelwurzels are stored in a clamp and then chipped with period machinery to feed the cows. A pigsty is built upon a foundation of bottles to provide insulation and three young Tamworth pigs and a pregnant Gloucestershire Old Spot sow are housed there upon completion. [17] A ram is added to the sheep flock and marked with a raddle to ensure that he impregnates all the ewes, so that they will lamb in the spring. A shire horse, named Clumper, is also added to the livestock and training in his use as a draught animal is performed.
Domestically, the weekly laundry is done in a Victorian style. Stain removal is first performed, for example, using milk to remove an ink stain. Then the clothes are hand-paddled, mangled and ironed over a period of several days.
Christmas is celebrated with a church service; the Victorian novelty of a Christmas tree; a plum pudding and a roast turkey; and presents are exchanged such as some hand-made braces. [18]
New Year arrives and the farm needs emergency repairs, with the help of the woodsman, the blacksmith and the basket maker. Ruth has a go at some traditional potions and remedies. When the wheat crop comes under attack, it is time for some pest control, Victorian style, as Alex and Peter join a pheasant hunt. Alex goes out catching rabbits with a team of Victorian poachers. And with spring around the corner, the first baby animals are ready to be born.
It is spring and there are lambs and pigs to be delivered, which means Alex and Peter need to master animal midwifery. A prized ewe is in danger and a lame horse may jeopardise vital work on the farm. The team witness the birth of many chicks and ducklings, along with 8 (originally 9) piglets from the pig Princess.
The team turns to Victorian science in a bid to save their struggling crops. If they succeed, they will have something to celebrate at the May Day fair. If they fail, all their hard work will have been in vain.
In this episode, the team embarks on a trip by steam train, Ruth begins a tough task in the dairy, Alex tries his hand at beekeeping, the sheep get sheared using the latest time-saving technology, and the lengthening summer days allow Alex and Peter to try out the new Victorian sport of cricket. It is also time for the hay harvest, weather permitting.
Ruth makes cheddar cheese in the dairy with her daughter, Catherine Goodman, using milk from the cow Forget Me Not and rennet from a neighbour's male calf. The sheep shearing is a life saver because it turns out that the sheep have severe fly strike. It is Alex's birthday and Ruth makes him a cake and a picnic, while Peter buys him a book about setting up an apiary. The boys make a predator-proof cover for the landlord's raspberry patch.
It is the end of their year on the farm. They sell off the pigs and sheep they successfully bred and raised. Ruth learns straw plaiting and makes a hat and cooks a Victorian style curry. Everything is now focused on the wheat harvest. Peter and Alex get the dray and a reaping and binding machine repaired and brew beer for the harvest. The harvest is completed just before the rain comes, with Ruth harvesting the last of the corn. Once the wheat is dried and stored they ring the church bells, enjoy a harvest festival and reflect upon their time on the farm. They hand over the key to their landlord and depart the farm.
A three-part follow-up series, Victorian Farm Christmas, [19] was produced in 2009, in which Goodman, Langlands and Ginn return to the Acton Scott Estate after a year away to recreate preparations for a Victorian Christmas. The series was filmed in August and September 2009 and was broadcast on BBC Two beginning on 11 December 2009. Other historians feature, such as Ivan Day and Professor Ronald Hutton. The windmill featured in the first programme was Wilton Windmill, Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire. [20]
Because of the popularity of Victorian Farm, Lion Television went on to produce a daytime series, Ben Fogle's Escape in Time (a format devised by Victorian Farm producer David Upshal) in which families were given the opportunity to live at Acton Scott for a week, learning and competing in historical skills. The series was filmed back-to-back with Victorian Farm Christmas in September 2009 and shown in July 2010. Langlands, Ginn and Goodman did not appear, though the latter's daughter, Eve Goodman, did feature.
Victorian Pharmacy was a four-part series in a similar style to Victorian Farm, also made by Lion and shown on BBC Two in 2010. Filmed almost exclusively at Blists Hill Victorian Town, it revolved around a recreation of a Victorian chemist's shop and included Ruth Goodman among its presenters, with Victorian Farm narrator Stephen Noonan providing the voiceover.
The DVD of Victorian Farm is distributed by Acorn Media UK.
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starting with the Neolithic Revolution when animals were first domesticated, from around 13,000 BC onwards, predating farming of the first crops. During the period of ancient societies like ancient Egypt, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were being raised on farms.
The Wilton Windmill is a five-floor brick tower mill, standing on a chalk ridge between the villages of Wilton and Great Bedwyn in the southern English county of Wiltshire.
Acton Scott is a village and parish near Church Stretton in Shropshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 104. It lies in the Shropshire Hills area of outstanding natural beauty. The settlement was recorded as Actune in the 1086 Domesday Book.
Canada is one of the largest agricultural producers and exporters in the world. As with other developed nations, the proportion of the population agriculture employed and agricultural GDP as a percentage of the national GDP fell dramatically over the 20th century, but it remains an important element of the Canadian economy. A wide range of agriculture is practised in Canada from Newfoundland on the Atlantic to British Columbia on the Pacific. In the federal government, overview of Canadian agriculture is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Agriculture in Saskatchewan is the production of various food, feed, or fiber commodities to fulfill domestic and international human and animal sustenance needs. The newest agricultural economy to be developed in renewable biofuel production or agricultural biomass which is marketed as ethanol or biodiesel. Plant cultivation and livestock production have abandoned subsistence agricultural practices in favor of intensive technological farming resulting in cash crops which contribute to the economy of Saskatchewan. The particular commodity produced is dependent upon its particular biogeography or ecozone of Geography of Saskatchewan. Agricultural techniques and activities have evolved over the years. The first nation nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the early immigrant ox and plow farmer proving up on his quarter section of land in no way resemble the present farmer operating huge amounts of land or livestock with their attendant technological mechanization. Challenges to the future of Saskatchewan agriculture include developing sustainable water management strategies for a cyclical drought prone climate in south western Saskatchewan, updating dryland farming techniques, stabilizing organic definitions or protocols and the decision to grow, or not to grow genetically modified foods. Domestically and internationally, some commodities have faced increased scrutiny from disease and the ensuing marketing issues.
Agriculture in the United Kingdom uses 70% of the country's land area, employs 1% of its workforce and contributes 0.5% of its gross value added. The UK currently produces about 54% of its domestic food consumption.
Tales from the Green Valley is a British historical documentary TV series in 12 parts, first shown on BBC Two from 19 August to 4 November 2005. The series, the first in the historic farm series, made for the BBC by independent production company Lion TV, follows historians and archaeologists as they recreate farm life from the age of the Stuarts; they wear the clothes, eat the food and use the tools, skills and technology of the 1620s.
The economy of Saskatchewan has been associated with agriculture resulting in the moniker "Bread Basket of Canada" and Bread Basket of the World. According to the Government of Saskatchewan, approximately 95% of all items produced in Saskatchewan, depend on the basic resources available within the province. Various grains, livestock, oil and gas, potash, uranium, wood and their spin off industries fuel the economy.
David Upshal is a British television producer. His work includes Victorian Farm, Victorian Pharmacy, Edwardian Farm, Wartime Farm, Tales from the Green Valley, Tudor Monastery Farm, The True Face of War, Days That Shook The World, Outbreak Investigation, Tony Benn: Free at Last, Gordon Brown's Missing Billions, Summer of Noise, The Gospel of Gospel, Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve, On Tour with the Queen, Lulu: Something to Shout About, Secrets of the Castle, The Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship and the historical skills game show Escape in Time, for which he is also credited as format devisor.
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Edwardian Farm is a British historical documentary TV series in twelve parts, first shown on BBC Two from November 2010 to January 2011. As the third series on the BBC historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valley, it depicts a group of historians recreating the running of a farm during the Edwardian era. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television and filmed at Morwellham Quay, an historic port in Devon. The farming team was historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn. The series was devised and produced by David Upshal and directed by Stuart Elliott, Chris Michell and Naomi Benson.
Victorian Pharmacy is a historical documentary TV series in four parts, first shown on BBC Two in July 2010. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television. The series producer was Cassie Braben and the Executive Producer was David Upshal. It was filmed at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire. It is a historical documentary that looks at life in the 19th century and how people attempted to cure common ailments. Since some of the ingredients of Victorian remedies are now either illegal or known to be dangerous, Professor Nick Barber often used his modern pharmaceutical knowledge to produce similar products without those ingredients. The other main presenters were Tom Quick, a PhD student, and Ruth Goodman, a domestic historian who also appeared in Tales from the Green Valley, Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.
Ruth Goodman is a British freelance historian of the early modern period, specialising in offering advice to museums and heritage attractions.
Wartime Farm is a British historical documentary TV series in eight parts in which the running of a farm during the Second World War is reenacted, first broadcast on BBC Two on 6 September 2012. The series, the fourth in the historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valley, was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television in association with the Open University, and was filmed at Manor Farm Country Park, now Manor Farm and River Hamble Country Park respectively, close to Southampton. The farming team consisted of historian Ruth Goodman, and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn. The Wartime Farm commissioning executives for the BBC are Emma Willis and James Hayes, and the Executive Producer for Lion Television is David Upshal.
Tudor Monastery Farm is a British factual television series, first broadcast on BBC Two on 13 November 2013. The series, the fifth in the historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valley, stars archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold, and historian Ruth Goodman. The team discover what farming was like during the Tudor period at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum. The program also recurringly features other historians, such as Colin Richards, and Professor Ronald Hutton.
Secrets of the Castle, or Secrets of the Castle with Ruth, Peter and Tom is a British factual television series that first broadcast on BBC Two from 18 November to 17 December 2014. The series stars archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold, and historian Ruth Goodman. In the series, the team takes part in the medieval construction project at Guédelon Castle in Treigny, France. During their stay there, they reveal what kind of skills and crafts were needed to build a castle in the 13th century, by using the techniques, tools and materials of the era.
Peter Ginn is a British archaeologist, best known as a presenter of the BBC educational television documentary series (2005–2014) known as the BBC historic farm series. Ginn and Ruth Goodman were the only presenters to appear in every Farm series, although he did not appear in the related Victorian Pharmacy. His later television work includes Secrets of the Castle (2014) and Full Steam Ahead (2016).
Alex Langlands is a British archaeologist and historian, also known for his work as a presenter of educational documentary series on British television and a lecturer of medieval history at Swansea University.
Agriculture in Wales has in the past been a major part of the economy of Wales, a largely rural country which is part of the United Kingdom. Wales is mountainous and has a mild, wet climate. This results in only a small proportion of the land area being suitable for arable cropping, but grass for the grazing of livestock is present in abundance. As a proportion of the national economy, agriculture is now much less important; a high proportion of the population now live in the towns and cities in the south of the country and tourism has become an important form of income in the countryside and on the coast. Arable cropping is limited to the flatter parts and elsewhere dairying and livestock farming predominate.
BBC Two's historical farm series are five documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two from 2005 to 2013. They illustrate the lives of people: farmers, labourers, fishermen, housewives, etc. in a variety of historical contexts. Historians and archaeologists play the parts of ordinary people and live and work immersed in the time specified. The team perform the everyday crafts such as hunting, gathering, sowing and reaping as well as experimenting with more specialised work like blacksmithing, woodcutting and mining under the eyes of an experienced tutor. Each series has taken place at a public living history site that provides external in-period experts, experience, and flavour. The Wartime Farm series includes conversations with men and women who remember the time. All were produced by David Upshal for Lion Television.
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