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About The Valley
What follows is a copy of the e-mail which I received from Lion TV when they were advertising for participants for The Valley:
HISTORIANS & ARCHAEOLOGISTS WANTED!
Have you ever dreamed of living and working on the land as we used to in the 17th Century? Are you desperate to put your new found knowledge to some practical use working in an environment without modern technologies?
BBC TELEVISION seeks determined, extrovert, new and passionate archaeologists and historians to participate in a unique and ambitious post-medieval living experiment. In an age of mechanization, industrialisation and intensive farming, the bold new BBC 2 project The Valley is offering you the chance to spend a year immersed in a forgotten world, living and working on a remarkable farm as it was five centuries ago.
This extraordinary series will follow a small group of handpicked passionate specialists like yourselves as they live and work on this beautifully preserved 17th Century farm, set in the heart of a secret valley that time has forgotten. Living without electricity, refrigeration, mains water, tractors or chemical pesticides, they will be challenged by the range of seasonal activities and skills that are still fascinating to us today – from coppice management, to the birthing of calves and pigs, from salting and smoking meat to sheep shearing and garment making, from malt production to leather tanning and harness making. Through this small group of enthusiasts, we will provide a fascinating and timely insight into how people truly worked and lived on the land all those years ago.
If you are graduating this summer and looking for a fantastic opportunity to kick start your career in history or archaeology, then this unique living history experiment could be exactly what you are looking for. If so, you should get in touch with the producers Lion Television at the contacts below. There are only a handful of positions available on the project and the selection process is well underway – so get in touch soon.
The rest, as they say, is history...
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Episode GuidePROG 1: SEPTEMBER
The start of a new 12 part series that turns the clock back 400 years. Five experts, archaeologists and historians, take on the challenge of running a farm for a year, as it would have been in the reign of James I. Working without modern conveniences they try and turn theory into practice, rediscovering how things were done in the year 1620. Each episode follows their tasks per calendar month and the farm as it changes through the seasons.
To kick off the agricultural calendar, the team use a team of oxen to plough the soil, and then have to sow and harrow their seed by hand. They try and make bread in a 17th century style bread oven, and cook up a contemporary rustic feast. Wearing period clothes, using tools from the time, and working with period breeds of animals, they travel back to a lost world and a forgotten time.
PROG 2: OCTOBER
This is their second month, and they’ve got lots to do. With the weather on the turn they try and build a cowshed to shelter their livestock over winter - using only tools and materials available from the time. A team of specialist thatchers come in to help thatch the roof with bracken as it would have been done 400 years ago.
With seeds and nuts falling from the trees it’s time to drive the pigs out into the woods to fatten them up. They spit roast some mutton and cook up some hearty period fare. And the pressure’s on to harvest a bumper crop of pears and put them to store in the apple loft.
PROG 3: NOVEMBER
November is their third month on the farm, which means its time to kill and process one of their specially bred period pigs, a wild boar Tamworth cross. Helped by a local butcher they try to burn off its bristles the old way, and conjure up a pork feast following 17th century recipes.
With winter approaching they accelerate their work on the cowshed, which means building a period style wattle and daub wall, and finishing off the roof, with the aid of a professional thatcher. Out in the orchards it’s the last chance to bring in the crop of medlars, a fruit never seen today in the supermarkets because they have to rot before you can eat them.
PROG 4: DECEMBER
December, their fourth month on the farm, means turning the clock back 400 years, to celebrate Christmas 17th century style. They have to cut their own giant yule log, the centrepiece of period festivities, deck the place out with traditional decorations, and celebrate with contemporary tipples. Getting ready for the Christmas day feast, it’s all hands to the deck cooking up a range of recipes from the age of Shakespeare, like mince pies with real meat in them
Through all this they’ve got to find time to tend the livestock, make some winter clothes, and build a hovel – a period wood store - all using tools and materials that would have been available in the year 1620.
PROG 5: JANUARY
January marks their fifth month, in the very depths of winter. The team resort to some period medicines to beat the aches and pains, boiling up and administering their own herbal oils and ointments. Following the advice of contemporary farming manuals, they head out into the coppice to manage their wood supplies, get in a professional hedge layer to help fix the boundaries, and have a go at making their own 17th style ink.
At the end of a hard day they tuck into a hearty dinner, as it might have been 400 years ago - gammon pie and peas pudding.
PROG 6: FEBRUARY
February is their sixth month on the farm. A heavy fall of snow turns it into a winter wonderland, but a storm has damaged their privy so they’ve got to rebuild one from scratch, and delve into waste management 17th century style.
Despite the cold they still have to look after the animals, which means checking up on the pregnant cows, and bringing in their period variety of sheep for a thorough check-up. They get busy preparing for spring sowing, and a music specialist brings along an assortment of contemporary instruments to warm them by the fire. With Lent upon them, they have a go at some 400 year old recipes for fish and apple pudding.
PROG 7: MARCH
The team are now half way through the project, March is their seventh month on the farm. They get busy turning wheat into bread flour, threshing it energetically with some period flails, and then winnowing it – throwing it up in the air to separate the grain from the chaff – using a replica basket. Then it’s off to a water mill to take the labour out of the ‘daily grind’.
They have a go at making some March beer, playing some period games, and yoking up some piglets to root up a field for spring sowing. It’s also time to overhaul the vegetable garden, and try out some contemporary dishes for Lent - salt cod and egg and pear pies.
PROG 8: APRIL
April marks their eighth month, so they give the farmhouse a thorough spring clean, sweeping out the chimney with a holly bush, and dusting out indoors with a period brush – a goose wing. The textiles need a good airing and bashing, and the team has to quite literally change the beds.
With the seasons accelerating, they crack on preparing a piece of wasteground for spring sowing: digging up the roots, burning them in pyres, and then spreading the fertile ash back in with a good helping of muck. It’s also time to try their hand at some 17th century dishes for veal and a peculiarly green omelette, at dry stonewalling, and in caring for a brand new baby calf.
PROG 9: MAY
May is their ninth month and the farm is blooming. The team are behind with spring sowing, so they get busy trying to cut straight furrows with a 17th century style breastplough, before harrowing their peas. With their cows in full milk, it’s time to go into overdrive milking and making butter with a replica churn.
Under expert guidance, the specialists try their hand at charcoal burning the old fashioned way, at making straw rope with a ‘wimble’, and at cooking up bacon and eggs and a cheesecake as they would have been in the age of Shakespeare. Then it’s time to relax with a spot of fishing using tools and materials that would have been available 400 years ago.
PROG 10: JUNE
June marks their tenth month, and the start of summer. Their most urgent priority is the sheep. They need to give them a good old wash in a local stream, warmed by a period potion, ‘sheepwashers’ posset’. Only then can they start shearing them by hand, a backbreaking task none of them have tried before.
The boys have to catch up with weeding their wheat field, as recommended in the farming manuals of the time and in the cool of the dairy, the girls have a go at making cheese the old fashioned way. Then it’s all hands to the pump, cooking up a hearty feast and building a bonfire, for a 17th century style midsummer party.
PROG 11: JULY
July is their eleventh and penultimate month. First task for the team is to get out into the meadow and start making hay while the sun shines. With the weather warming up, it’s time to get on with the laundry. They have to try making their own washing liquid, ‘lye’, from wood ash, then it’s off to the stream for a bit of violent beating.
They’ve got to get busy harvesting some of the 17th century crops from the garden, like red gooseberries, and roses to lighten the mood. And for supper, puddings wrapped in intestines and giant beef chops are on the menu, following a recipe recorded by a soldier during the Civil War.
PROG 12: AUGUST
August marks their twelfth and final month. Their biggest task and the culmination of a year’s work, is the wheat harvest. Everyone joins in, men, women and children, cutting it down with replicas of period sickles, as they did 400 years ago. It’s relentless work, bundling it up and stooking it to dry, before they can bring it in with the help of Blackthorn, the farm horse.
It’s also the season to make rush lights a cheap, local alternative to candles. They have a go using sheep fat, ‘tallow’, under the expert eye of a professional candlemaker, or chandler. They’ve also got to try their hand at goose wrangling, fattening them up on spilt grain in the wheat stubble, ready for a 17th century goose pie banquet.