Wartime Farm

During World War Two Britain had to look to the land to provide the produce it had previously shipped in from abroad, meaning huge changes on both the agricultural and domestic scenes. Accompanying an 8-part BBC series and written by the three presenters who spend a year living on a reconstructed farm from the era, Wartime Farm sets these changes within a historical context and looks at the day-to-day life of that time. Exploring a fascinating chapter in Britain's recent history, we see how our predecessors lived and thrived in difficult conditions with extreme frugality and ingenuity. From growing your own vegetables and keeping chickens in the back yard, to having to 'make do and mend', many of the challenges faced by wartime Britons have resonance today. Fascinating historical detail and atmospheric story-telling make this a truly compelling read.

All three authors appeared in previous 'farm' series, including 'Edwardian Farm' and the award-winning 'Victorian Farm' as well as 'Tales from the Green Valley' (all BBC2). Peter Ginn studied archaeology at University College London and has since been an archaeological digger, supervisor and teacher. Historian Ruth Goodman is an expert in nineteenth-century social and domestic history and has appeared in a number of television series, most recently 'Victorian Pharmacy'. She spent ten years as a historical advisor to the Royal Shakespeare Company's Globe Theatre and also appeared in the BBC2 programme 'Tales from the Banquet Hall'. Alex Langlands is an archaeologist and historian with a fascination for the British landscape. He has excavated numerous archaeological sites in a bid to understand agricultural practices throughout history.