Wartime Farm
Are you interested in jam making, keeping chickens or making do and mend? Why not see how it used to be done with BBC2s hour long documentary Wartime Farm.
Wartime Farm follows the successful Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm series in which archaeologists Alex and Peter along with historian Ruth Goodman recreate the past by living it.
In World War Two, farming was a central part of the Home Front but it wasn’t an easy option although it looks pretty idyllic to us now. Farmers faced everyday challenges and controls from the Government under the daily threats of food shortages and invasion .
This era changed farming practices completely and Ruth Peter and Alex often struggle with keeping up but still manage time to squeeze in the occasional countryside celebration and enjoy themselves with their friends and neighbours.
Their obvious sincerity and enthusiasm are the main draw in this series. Maybe the jam doesn’t set or the silage fails again and we can really feel for them. Their disappointment seems as genuine as their amazement is when they succeed.
Ruth Peter and Alex just get on with it through good and bad and harness the wartime spirit. Wartime Farm on BBC Two conveys a sense of reality coupled with history in a way that is both grim and charming at the same time.
This show is never going to be the phone in or twitter event of the year. No one is ever going to be asked to vote for the best knitted tank top in the series!
In reality you may even find that many of these austerity techniques in home economics and dealing with shortages are just as relevant in these cash strapped times as they were back then.
After all if everything else fails you can always knit one of those mud coloured tank tops and just keep calm and carry on watching. Catch up with Wartime Farm via youriplayer.co.uk and see how it was done in our great grandparents day.
Watch all episodes of Wartime Farm here. Wartime Farm is a tv-programme of BBC One. You can see all episodes of Wartime Farm here via Youriplayer.co.uk.
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