Tales from the Green Valley (2005)
Tales from the Green Valley
2005Follows 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.
Seasons & Episode
There's little food to be harvested in January, so a meal is created using the ham that's been preserved since Arthur the pig was killed, with pease pudding and whole grains. Meanwhile, Ruth Goodman uses a salve of herbs and animal fat to treat a cut on a patient also suffering with a painful elbow, for which her prescription is sage in oil
A storm leaves the toilet damaged, so the team face the unenviable task of building another from scratch, while explaining the unusual ways in which human waste was used in the 17th century. A music specialist brings a collection of period instruments to entertain the farmers by the fire, and Lent heralds yet more culinary challenges
The farmers give the house a spring clean, sweeping the chimney with a holly bush and dusting the place with a goose wing. They also care for a newborn calf, and attempt to build dry stone walls, while on the menu are a range of 17th-century veal dishes and an unusually green omelette
The women make the most of the July weather by washing all the clothes and bedsheets in 'lye' - a mixture of ashes, water and fermented urine. Meanwhile, the men tackle the job of making hay in the meadow. Fonz reflects on the farmers' achievements as the team harvest the peas
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.