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Victorian Farm

50 replies

Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 10:22

No-one else watching this then?

I love it so much. Historical reality tv with people who actually know lots and are good-humoured and cheerful and polite to each other.

And you learn so much, all about mangel wurzels and chaff cutters!

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Butkin · 16/01/2009 10:48

Doing the washing with that wooden stirrer was hard - up at 2am and by the time you've finished it is time to start it all again!

Mercy · 16/01/2009 10:51

I've been watching it!

Yes it is really interesting; did you see 1900 House a few years ago?

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 10:52

hell yes.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 10:53

sorry, that was to Butkin re washing.
I missed all the 1900 House as I didn't have a tv then. Saw some of 1940s house, that was good.
Then the American Frontier house was good.
The worst was the awful remake of the Iron Age one.

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Mercy · 16/01/2009 10:57

If you ever get the chance to see it I can thoroughly recommend it, it was asbolutely fascinating.

mamijacacalys · 16/01/2009 11:24

Agree - great programme.
Makes you appreciate central heating when she was trying to sew in freezing temperatures.
Is becoming a cult with DHs workmates.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 11:49

What does your dh do Mamijacacalys?

Do you mean a cult in an ironic sort of way, or do they love watching mangelwurzeling too?

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LoveMyLapTop · 16/01/2009 11:50

It was really good TV, and lovley people.
The tongue did make me a bit boak though!

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 11:52

It didn't look too good as a whole tongue, did it? We sometimes buy tongue from our local deli in slices like ham - yum. DD loves it but when I pointed out it was an animal's tongue she told me not to be silly.

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scampadoodle · 16/01/2009 11:54

It's so refreshing to watch reality tv that is actually about people doing stuff that they are knowledgeable about, rather than them bitching about eachother!
Fascinating. Of course, in real life, the woman's job would have been much harder as I presume she'd have had loads of kids.
Also, the bloke who brought the ram over was hilarious.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 16/01/2009 12:28

yes imagine getting up at 2 to do the laundry when you've been up all night with a baby....

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dazmum · 19/01/2009 14:29

The same people did a medieval version of this a few years ago that was good too. I'm never going to complain about washing and ironing again! Or being cold indoors.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 19/01/2009 14:31

This is fascinating to watch, I was at college with the landlords son, really interesting about using wine bottles as a thermal layer.

FuriousGeorge · 19/01/2009 21:37

I'm watching this too.It is fascinating.My family have been farmers since the year dot,so we watch it with the dd's on Saturday evening & explain to them that those are the ways their great grandparents would have lived and worked.
I love watching steam threshers/heavy horses and can watch them for hours.I've been known to get sentimental about old tractors too.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 20/01/2009 08:34

Ah you should live round our way FuriousGeorge, it seems to be the centre of the vintage tractor world. You can get THREE different magazines about vintage tractors in the local newsagent.

I love it when you see a really old tractor and you can reflect that to the people who first used it it would have seemed like an amazing piece of high tech machinery and totally changed the way they worked.

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TwoIfBySea · 20/01/2009 13:15

This programme is fascinating.

My parent's house was built over 200 years ago and when I was patching up some plaster you could see the horse hair from the plaster that was used all those years ago. It was good to see how it was actually done on the show.

ShauntheSheep · 20/01/2009 13:23

fabulous programme and loved the medieval one a few years ago too. What I really like is the way they discover why things were done in a certain way and how logical so many things are even tho they seem so odd to us now.

The Iron Age one was a farce but then the program makers seemed to want it that way and didnt want anyone who had any knowledge of the period or any skills that would be useful. I knew lots of people who were very keen to go on hte show but were rejected because they knew too much about the period.

ThriceWoe · 20/01/2009 22:48

I love this programme too - and also loved the previous, 17th century one. Funny how Ruth Goodman seemed to have a really Tudor-looking face....and now looks completely at home as a Victorian! But I did have a small moment in the ep when they did the lime plastering. We live in an old house and had lime plastering re-done not so long ago (hence my nickname - a v long, sad story...). On TV they made it look as though it took about a day, but actually it takes weeks and weeks as each coat has to dry before the next can go on. Guess they have to speed up the process for the cameras, but that lovely renovation job will have taken ages and cost ££££££££££!

Aniyan · 22/01/2009 22:30

Oh how I love this programme .

Highlight for me tonight was the men taking about 4 months to hand-craft 5 feet of fence for the farmyard, while Ruth just popped up to the top field one afternoon and built about twice as much fence in between fashioning sanitary towels and making a rabbit pudding - fabulous!

I thought Alex and Peter's real nervousness and relief over the lambing was very touching - but I have a soft spot for Alex anyway

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 23/01/2009 11:52

I love all the machines. We were saying last night that probably when they were doing the 17th century one when they were in the middle of some really repetitive job they would have fantasised about what period they were going to do next - 'Medieval? Not on your life, we're going post-Industrial Revolution next time....'

Dh is such a cynic - he was convinced that when they were doing the lambing they really had a vet standing by out of shot

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naswm · 23/01/2009 12:13

I have watched a couple of these now - think I sky+d the last one, was it on last night?

I love these sorts of things. Adored the 1900 house, 1940s house etc etc

I think I was born in the wrong era actually!

Want to get onto teh 1911 census actually, just waiting for some money to start searching it

BurningBright · 23/01/2009 15:03

I love this programme. Adored 'Tales of a Green Valley' which was done by the same people a few years ago.

The social history side of it is fascinating.

And I must confess that I find Peter rather sexy.

FuriousGeorge · 24/01/2009 17:42

Oh how I laughed when the chap lambing the sheep went on about how lambs have a real will to live!Sadly,when they grow up,the try as hard as they can to keel over and die on you.

I did find some consolation though,my dad and I were shepherding yesterday,and had to drag heavy feed troughs up an incredibly muddy hill,in a blizzard,with stupid sheep doing their best to knock you over into the morass.Then we had to drag a very stinky dead sheep onto the tractor box,where I was stationed, and I tried my best to stay upwind of it as we trundled horribly slowly back to the yard.En route we found the remains of a sheep that the foxes had gotten,and I had to jump down and collect what was left,and add that to the box too.Urghhh! But all the while I was thinking'It could be worse,we could be in a horse & cart and then I'd have my malodourus companions for twice as long.

After that,getting shocked by the electric fence and the beast escaping didn't seem quite so bad.

Is Peter the one in the hat? I quite like him,and would be quite happy to show him a thing or to in the lambing shed.

megcleary · 24/01/2009 21:38

i think it should be shown in schools as part of history classes

LadyOfWaffle · 29/01/2009 21:53

It's fascinating, isn't it?