This is the new series following on from Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm, and starring historian Ruth Goodman, and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn. The first part of Wartime Farm was aired last Thursday and is going to be obligatory viewing for the next few weeks, plus the book and DVD of the series are officially on my Christmas list. I was particularly looking forward to seeing this production as it is filmed at a place I know very well, just a few miles from where I grew up, and where I walked, played and rode in childhood and walked and rode as an adult. I know it as Cricket Camp, but it is now officially Manor Farm Country Park.
I have written about it before, HERE, so you will get more of an idea what the farm and area are like, and also its wartime history and importance to me.
I have such happy memories of riding there on dear old Snowy, and later walking my dogs Tara and Misty through the woods, and along by the River Hamble, not to mention nearly having an unofficial bath when I rode an ex-steeplechaser Tim (acronym for his racing name, Time is Money) and he started pawing at the water when we rode into the river and a lot of energetic leg aids and some yelling just managed to forestall him sagging at the knees and having a bath!
There were more wartime memories today, as after we had spent a long morning at the car boot sale at Laugharne, we took up the offer of a cuppa from the lovely couple Simon and Min who run the 1940s museum there, and had a lovely long chat, sat in the little two room cottage which forms part of the museum. There was vintage 1930s/40s music playing on a gramophone and as we sat round the table and talked, we could almost have been back in WWII. We have been pleased to donate a couple of family items from that period to the museum and it is good to see them in use, and my husband's mother's little aluminium pan is part of the wartime story told about the Anderson Shelter, as she used to take that, the tea caddy, and the ration book into the shelter whenever there was an air raid.
Now an early night is called for I do believe, as I can hardly stay awake. Oh, and cow number 400207, if you belch like that again when I am picking blackberries the other side of the hedge, I shall report you to the methane police!
Your family stories are fascinating, like your husband's mom taking the tea caddy and ration book into the air raid shelter, and your ride on Tim, etc. The tv series sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to know that your Mother in Law`s wartime pan and tea caddy are going to be part of an Anderson Shelter exhibition. The Museum at Laugharne sounds a fascinating place.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the first episode of The Wartime Farm. I think a visit to Manor Farm Country Park might be in the offing!
How did I miss notice of this series?! Aaaaaccckkkk! I hope I can find it showing on this side of the pond as it sounds fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing more of your/your husbands family history and war experiences (as well as yours regarding the area of this special). It is without doubt truly interesting!
Hugs, Issy
I love their reconstruction series, this will be the third one now, Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm were superb. Ruth's enthusiam knows no bounds as she scrubs floors, tends fires and now is cooking on a a 'new fangled' cooker. Must visit Laughharne one day, always pass it on the way up but never branch off ;(
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Isn't it great and at last they get to wear some clothes that might actually keep them warm! Ruth must be so relieved not to be on her knees by candlelight for once. Origami Boy's WW2 project means we're recording them all.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good sleep and feel refreshed today.
We are really enjoying Wartime Farm and I am trying to end tonight's blogging before it starts at 8pm.
ReplyDeleteIt's an amazing series - but I've loved everything these three have done.
ReplyDeleteDW - I hope you will visit Manor Farm Country Park. Where we used to walk along by the river is also where Timeteam did the dig for the remains of a Tudor warship (think it was that timescale). To think we used to walk past bits of timber just sticking out of the mud at low tide and not realize what they were from.
ReplyDeleteAll - it's a great series. They don't take that little car off the far though, as when you saw them buzzing off (to Lincolnshire - hah!) to get the beet tops for their silage last week, it was just one of the trackways through the woods - to the main car park I think!