Episode 1 Wartime Farm


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In September 1939, Britain stood on the brink of the Second World War.

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To avoid defeat,

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one battle would become more important than any other.

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The battle to produce food.

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Two thirds of Britain's food was imported.

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And now, it was under threat from a Nazi blockade.

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To feed the nation, an agricultural revolution of epic proportions

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was needed to at least double home-grown food production.

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Churchill called the farms of Britain the front line of freedom.

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Now, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands

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and Peter Ginn are turning the clock back.

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We're about to embark on the greatest challenge

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ever faced by British agriculture, Peter, the Second World War.

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Over the next year, they'll work Manor Farm in Hampshire

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as it would have been during the Second World War.

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-Onward march!

-Come on! Quick march!

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Here, the team will relive the struggle of wartime farmers

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to maximise food production...

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The plough, really, had become a weapon of war.

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..cope with shortages...

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Whoa! That is a bit of kit!

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..experience social revolution in the countryside...

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Whoa!

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..and protect and defend the south coast from the threat of invasion.

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Four men, evidence of explosives.

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PLANE FLIES BY

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This is the untold story of the countryside at war.

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CAR HORN TOOTS

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GEARBOX GRINDS

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-Oh!

-Oh!

-If you can't find it, grind it, as they say!

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In 1939, Britain's farmers prepared for war.

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Now, Alex, Ruth and Peter are on their way to their new farm in Hampshire.

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A few miles in from the south coast, near the ports of Southampton

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and Portsmouth, during the war, this was the front line against the Nazis.

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Like troops, farmers, too, were being mobilised.

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So important was their job to the nation's survival, the farming

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would become a reserved occupation, exempt from military conscription.

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60% of our food was being imported. Just so easy, isn't it,

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for the Germans to just cut-off the supply?!

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A ring of U-boats surrounding the British Isles,

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effectively starving us to death.

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Suddenly, all the overseas food on which Britain so depended

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was in jeopardy.

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German U-boats and warships threatens to destroy convoys

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transporting supplies across the Atlantic.

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To make things worse, farming in Britain had been in recession

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since the end of the First World War.

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And now they'd have to double production.

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This is probably one of the greatest challenges British

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agriculture had ever faced!

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Absolutely!

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How to turn it around after 20 years of neglect

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and a reinvestment in the countryside.

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But the main thing, we have got a new team member!

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-Isn't that right, Henry?

-All right at the back there, Henry?

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He's going to make all the difference, isn't he?

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I think he most certainly will.

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-There you go.

-That's really pretty.

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-What a farm!

-Beautiful, isn't it?

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This is Manor Farm,

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eight miles from Southampton,

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which they will work on for the coming year.

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Handing over the keys is farm manager David Trenchard.

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Hello, David. Alex.

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-Alex.

-Ruth.

-Ruth, pleasure. Fantastic farm you've got here.

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Yes, it is. You wouldn't find a more typical Hampshire farm than this.

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Where is our first port of call going to be?

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I think we'll start in the yard and have a look at the stock.

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-OK.

-Thank you.

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Manor farm was typical of the 1930s.

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Cheap cereal crops imported from the United States and Canada

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meant British farmers could no longer compete.

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So instead of growing crops, they concentrated on livestock.

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Ah, the pigs!

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These are the pigs, yes, we keep two breeds on the farm at the moment.

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We keep Saddlebacks, and this is Middle Whites.

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Good old pig for your sausages and everything else.

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In fact, they are a rare breed.

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Good girl, good girl.

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THEY LAUGH

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There you go.

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-Now, here's your girls.

-Here's our girls.

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-You can tell they are milkers.

-Yes, yes, very good milkers.

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-We have actually got a Guernsey, Jersey and an Ayrshire there.

-Right.

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I mean this close to somewhere like Southampton,

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-there's definitely going to be a market for milk, isn't there?

-Yeah.

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-This is our milking parlour.

-Wow!

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Hey! It's a modern milking machine!

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Cups for the teats. I mean, it is such a reduction in labour.

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Yes, yes, we have modernised.

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So this really is the 1939 state-of-the-art milking parlour?

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This is it, yes, sit on that stool every morning

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spending 20 minutes milking the cow there.

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THEY LAUGH

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Before the war, Manor Farm also had beef cattle,

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sheep,

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workshops...

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..petrol-powered farm equipment...

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..and nearby, a wartime village hall.

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Oh, look at this! Dance Mania Foxtrot.

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-Wow, old gramophone records!

-The One I Love. A foxtrot.

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So we're definitely between the two wars here, aren't we?

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Mmm. This must have been ringing, this place.

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Such a popular thing to do, during the war, dancing.

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Well, judging by the state of this place, it was an awesome party!

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Got this fantastic archaeological record here, haven't we,

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-of life during the war, really.

-Absolutely.

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At the heart of the farm is a row of cottages.

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Here, Alex, Peter and Ruth will experience wartime domestic life.

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-Ah, the kitchen!

-Let's have a look.

-Nice light. A local stove.

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It's tiny. How am I supposed to manage with that?!

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This coal cooking range dates from well before the First World War.

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By the 1930s, they were being superseded by cleaner

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-and more efficient cookers.

-Look, look, I'll show you what I want.

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I've been looking. Look, see! That's what I want, that.

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-What is that? Gas, is it?

-An electric cooker.

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I mean, there's gas cookers and electric cookers going in like crazy all across Britain.

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It's clean, takes far less work and the government is actually

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saying with war coming, we know we're going to be short of coal,

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we need that fuel for other things, electricity is much more efficient.

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It's really encouraging people to move over to electric cooking.

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So, the lady gets a new cooker because it's all

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-part of the war effort, is what you're trying to say to us?

-Yeah.

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I'm really looking forward to bringing this place back to life

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and seeing what it was like living in rural Britain

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during the Second World War.

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Wartime in many people's minds is all about guns and aeroplanes,

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and tanks and young men in uniform.

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But it's also a period in which the British countryside,

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and British country people really came back into their own.

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Timber!

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The farmers had to produce food,

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and provide accommodation for a huge section of the population.

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It was an enormously important part of the war effort,

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and I do think that sometimes it gets forgotten.

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This is an opportunity to explore an untold history.

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Here, we've got a very, very different battle being fought -

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a battle, really, for food -

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and that untold story is one that I'm thrilled to be exploring.

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ROOSTER CROWS

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Even before war was declared,

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the government anticipated that a German blockade would

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drastically reduce food imports, so Britain would have to feed itself.

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To do so, farmers would have to increase their harvest.

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Over there, we've got dog-tail coppice.

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The government set up war agricultural executive committees

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in every county to drive through these changes.

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Known as War-Ags,

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they had the power to tell farmers what fields to plough up.

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So Alex and Peter are surveying the farm's 30 acres to see how it can be done.

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So, this is Manor Farm here.

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Yeah, that's the farm and we are bound by the River Hamble here,

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-coming around this horseshoe shape.

-Yeah.

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So all of these fields around here would relate to Manor farm.

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But of course, the majority of this land

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-was all being used for rearing livestock.

-Yeah.

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But using land for livestock production

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was not the most efficient way of feeding the nation.

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It's a simple principle, really, isn't it?

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Instead of growing all of this feed to feed animals,

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to slaughter, to then feed people, why don't you actually just

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grow the feed and feed the people directly, and it's a much more

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economic way of feeding, because you lose a lot of that calorific value

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from the original food,

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by putting it through livestock before you feed people.

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In 1939, war breaks out, you had months to get around your farm,

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as we'll be doing, and looking at the field and saying, that - wheat,

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that - beans, that - barley,

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-and that's exactly what we're going to have to do, aren't we?

-We are.

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Over the six years of conflict, the War-Ag instructed farmers to grow

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an extra 6.5 million acres of crops, a total area bigger than Wales.

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Many farmers were ill-equipped for this monumental challenge,

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as they didn't have the machinery or suitable land.

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Welcome to the badlands. If I were a potter,

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I could make my fortune here.

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It's beautiful, beautiful clay, but at the moment,

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this clay is a hindrance. The water, it sits on it.

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If we attempted to grow crops here, they would be ruined,

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so we need to find some way of draining this sitting water

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and then we'll be able to grow a fantastic crop.

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It actually, according to the map,

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dips away towards a brook in the bottom of the field.

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So I am worried about sitting water.

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In this field, they have decided to grow wheat, used to produce bread.

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I've got a leaflet here, Peter,

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this is what the ministry have furnished me with.

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"Mole drainage for heavy land."

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What the War-Ag is recommending is the use of a mole subsoiler,

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essentially, it's a kind of deep cultivation, if you like.

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It's like a little torpedo that is dragged through the soil

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at a depth of, what, Peter?

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-About just over a foot.

-OK.

-A foot or a foot and a half.

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-Just over a foot.

-It's got to be deeper than the plough,

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-if it's going to happen.

-Yeah.

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Traditionally, farmers had drained fields with hand-dug ditches

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and clay pipes.

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But using a mole subsoiler was much quicker and cheaper

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and used extensively during the war.

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First, they need to survey the field to find out which way it slopes.

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Now, it might look obvious to start with, but I can see already,

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we've got a dip in there. There's a danger that

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if we just drained all the way down to this point, OK,

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even if we drained through it,

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we'd still get a build-up of water in this area.

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As archaeologists, surveying is second nature to Alex and Peter.

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Yeah, there, perfect. And just work down a little bit.

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-So, here?

-Yeah.

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-OK.

-So that's what? Five feet seven?

-About five, six.

-Five, six. There we go.

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OK, Alex! Shall we do another line?

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Knowing the lay of the land, they can work out where to use

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the mole subsoiler to make underground drainage channels.

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Doubling food production put enormous demands on labour,

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so women were drafted to work on the land.

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This made it important to reduce housework

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by modernising the kitchen.

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Ruth's called on expert in household technology, Dr Karen Sayer.

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Oh! You've caught me! I'm still cleaning! Hello! Come in! Sorry!

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-That's fine.

-I'm absolutely filthy! Lovely to see you.

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Good to see you, too.

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I found this fantastic picture in my book here, about furniture

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and how to layout the home.

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And that. You see? That's just exactly what I had in mind.

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We've got the electric cookers, the kitchenettes, it's a modern,

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-new kitchen, ready!

-I have to disappoint you a little bit.

-Oh.

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-THEY LAUGH

-The kitchenette is fine,

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but electric cooker is going to be a big problem.

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-Do you have mains electricity?

-No, not the mains.

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So the fact that we're not on the grid here,

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was that common for farms at the outbreak of war?

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Absolutely. The majority of farms were not on the grid.

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In 1939, just one in ten rural houses had mains electricity.

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But there was an alternative.

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A portable petrol-powered generator.

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Philip Everson has brought one along.

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ENGINE CHUGS

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-Goodness, you got it going!

-Yes!

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Hopefully, now we can have some light.

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That looks frankly like you are about to restart Frankenstein.

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Well, it would probably do that as well,

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but first of all, we should have...light!

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Oh, wow!

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SHE LAUGHS

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This is a 50 volt set. It runs 50 volts and up to 1,000 watts.

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This is what you call a cottage lighting plant

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so you run the engine during the day to charge a set of batteries up

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and when they were fully charged you put the lights on at night

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so you can have the lights without listening to the engine,

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and use the engine to keep the batteries charged.

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-That's quite a doable thing.

-Yeah, absolutely.

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We could use it to light a workshop, we could use it to light the house.

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Were there a lot of these about?

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They made these engines from 1926 up until 1964

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and the actual basic engines, they made a quarter of a million of them.

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They were one of the most successful small power engines

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ever made in the UK.

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They were almost impossible to kill.

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You could work them and abuse them

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and they still came back for more so the farmers loved them.

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Before they can sow the wheat,

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the team need a mole subsoil to improve the drainage.

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But low incomes during the agricultural depression

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meant farmers didn't have the money to buy equipment.

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So, like farmers of the time, Peter must improvise

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by calling on the services of a blacksmith like Simon Summers.

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This is, essentially, a bullet-shaped piece of iron

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that gets dragged through the ground and leaves in its wake a channel.

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Basically, like a pipe without any...piping

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Yeah, yeah, you want a solid bit of iron.

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You want some strength there, for that.

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Serious strength. Yeah.

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-All right.

-Cos this is quite an undertaking.

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In 1939, scrap metal was going to the war effort

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for armaments production - resulting in shortages.

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Well, that looks like the base of a seed drill.

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Yeah, there's some good wheels on that.

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The blacksmith, whose craft had long been in decline,

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now found himself once more in demand.

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There's an adjustable linkage there, so that could go on to the tractor.

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He had the skill to make do and mend,

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turning rusty metal into new machines.

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The thing I'm most concerned about is the actual physical lump

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of metal that gets dragged through the grounds.

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-That's iron, that is.

-That's iron, is it?

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That's raw iron, that shaft is.

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-Well, that's pretty...

-We could use that.

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It's good-quality iron, this.

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Henry, we're looking for iron, not potatoes!

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In the forge, Simon begins the process of transforming

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the scrap-iron axle into a brand-new mole.

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OK? That's it. Now we're going to put it back in the fire.

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The first job is to make a bullet-shaped nose on the mole,

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so it can be pulled easily through the clay soil.

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This is where the sledge comes and you're going to follow my pattern.

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-You tell me where to hit and I hit it.

-Yeah.

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OK.

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Right, we're just driving... this in to cut a slot.

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We have to be very careful, cos it's so hot.

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Simon has to keep cooling the tool otherwise it gets stuck in there

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and will essentially forge the two together.

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That's perfect.

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Once the fields have been drained with Peter's mole subsoiler,

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they'll return to bare earth, by ploughing.

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But Alex had spotted another problem.

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You can't plough a field when it's got big, thick sward, you know,

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a thick grass on the top of it. It just doesn't work.

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You've got to have it eaten down so it's almost like a carpet.

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To do this, Alex is calling on the beef cattle,

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reared by Debbie Underwood.

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So you've built up a real rapport with this herd.

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-This one we've had since she was two weeks old.

-Really?

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I used to pick up and carry her around. I don't do that any more.

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-No, I can imagine!

-She's like a lovely, soppy Labrador.

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-This is Abigail.

-Abigail?

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Yeah. Isn't she gorgeous?

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Come on, then.

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But back then, this herd would have faced an uncertain future.

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You would have had farmers, like Debbie here, who had grown-up

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with cattle all their lives but with more looming

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and this desire to grow more cereals,

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the Ministry for Agriculture wasn't going to reward farmers

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who kept beef, cattle.

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Come on!

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It will take the cattle about three weeks to graze this grass

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ready for ploughing.

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This is my new kitchenette.

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I am so pleased with this.

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Ruth and Karen are furnishing the kitchen with labour-saving devices.

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It's clean.

0:20:570:20:58

A lovely enamel surface, easy to wipe down for pastry preparation.

0:20:580:21:04

-Absolutely.

-All your food storage, all cleanly tidied away, it's great.

0:21:040:21:08

With the generator finally connected up,

0:21:100:21:13

Ruth has electric light in the cottage.

0:21:130:21:15

Fantastic!

0:21:150:21:17

SHE LAUGHS

0:21:210:21:22

BULB SMASHES

0:21:250:21:26

Hopefully, she'll have better luck with the radio.

0:21:260:21:28

Whoops!

0:21:280:21:30

RADIO TUNES IN AND OUT

0:21:320:21:34

Of course, this is how you're going to get all the news

0:21:340:21:36

and current affairs.

0:21:360:21:38

Particularly as you go further into the war,

0:21:380:21:41

the newspapers themselves had to cut down incredibly

0:21:410:21:44

-and sometimes there were only four sides at a time.

-Right.

0:21:440:21:48

So the best way of finding out exactly what's going on is the radio.

0:21:480:21:52

This really is your connection with the wider world.

0:21:520:21:54

It's your connection, absolutely.

0:21:540:21:56

Electricity also meant new labour-saving gadgets.

0:21:580:22:01

Now we're talking!

0:22:040:22:06

Perfect appliance to make your life so much easier.

0:22:060:22:10

Traditionally, an iron was a piece of flat metal heated on a coal range.

0:22:100:22:14

Now they were replaced by ones you could plug in.

0:22:140:22:18

-So, it's a bayonet or like a bulb.

-It's a bayonet exactly like a bulb.

0:22:180:22:22

That's it.

0:22:220:22:24

-Wow!

-Now, how much faster is that?

0:22:240:22:27

-That's not only fast but it's so clean.

-It's so clean.

0:22:270:22:31

You don't have to worry about smuts getting on your laundry.

0:22:310:22:34

Small generators weren't capable of powering large appliances, though,

0:22:340:22:39

like electric cookers.

0:22:390:22:41

But there was a modern convenient replacement for the coal range.

0:22:420:22:45

Oh, it's a paraffin stove!

0:22:450:22:46

They're supposed to just free stand, no plumbing in.

0:22:460:22:50

There's no fixing to anything, it's just a little stand-alone box.

0:22:500:22:54

Well, again, this is the way forward. This is modernity.

0:22:540:22:57

So, it's just a series of flat paraffin lamps.

0:22:590:23:03

-This is nothing new, is it?

-No, this is exactly like oil lamps.

0:23:030:23:06

People would have been very used to using this and this helps with

0:23:060:23:11

the adoption of technology as well and you can see that in the styling.

0:23:110:23:14

It's all painted black to look like a range

0:23:140:23:17

and yet it's made of really thin sheet metal.

0:23:170:23:19

Absolutely, and that's to make people feel very comfortable.

0:23:190:23:22

I am really looking forward to cooking on this.

0:23:220:23:24

-I bet you are!

-It's going to be so different.

0:23:240:23:27

It is going to be so much easier presumably.

0:23:270:23:30

Look, no smoke.

0:23:300:23:31

You're not having to shovel coal or anything.

0:23:310:23:34

It's much less labour intensive.

0:23:340:23:37

-OK, you get the sledge, Peter.

-Yeah.

0:23:430:23:44

To drain the boggy land for cereal production,

0:23:440:23:48

Peter and blacksmith Simon Summers are making a mole subsoiler.

0:23:480:23:52

Whack it down, yeah.

0:23:520:23:53

So far, they've made the head of the mole.

0:23:560:23:58

Next, they must make a strong bracket

0:23:580:24:01

to hold it in place below the ground.

0:24:010:24:02

-Now we need to make another cut up here.

-Right.

0:24:020:24:05

Move it along, probably about there.

0:24:050:24:09

But the best they can find is a rusty Victorian cartwheel rim.

0:24:090:24:14

It's really good iron. It's such a waste if we don't re-use it.

0:24:190:24:24

Once we get up to a certain temperature,

0:24:240:24:27

the rust just comes off so it will be like bright new iron again.

0:24:270:24:30

The bracket's finished. Now to attach it to the mole itself.

0:24:340:24:38

Right, here comes the hot rivet. In it goes.

0:24:460:24:49

So, through... it catches the mushroom. OK, flip...

0:24:490:24:54

Flip!

0:24:540:24:55

CLANGING

0:24:550:24:57

You can see why blacksmiths went deaf!

0:24:580:25:01

And there we have it, entirely made from scrap iron

0:25:010:25:04

that we found in the hedgerow.

0:25:040:25:06

Old machinery that we turned into a new machine. Fantastic.

0:25:060:25:10

Peter is building a chassis to carry his mole subsoiler.

0:25:150:25:20

So hopefully this is going to aid keeping the mole in the ground.

0:25:200:25:26

And there we go.

0:25:260:25:28

Slide that in like that.

0:25:300:25:32

This project is a mix of quite intense stress

0:25:320:25:36

because obviously, it's got to be done and done to a certain time limit

0:25:360:25:39

but also one of immense joy because it's so much fun

0:25:390:25:42

to have a workshop, to have a forge, to be able to tinker around.

0:25:420:25:45

All good, all good stuff.

0:25:450:25:48

Peter will need a machine to pull the mole subsoiler

0:25:490:25:51

through the ground.

0:25:510:25:54

But in 1939, there were 20 horses to every tractor on Britain's farms.

0:25:550:26:01

If farmers were to double food production to meet the demands

0:26:010:26:04

of war they'd have two replace horsepower with mechanical power.

0:26:040:26:08

Unlike horses, tractors don't need to rest.

0:26:080:26:11

Pete Diggs, who has farmed in this area his whole life, is giving

0:26:140:26:17

Alex and Ruth a lesson in driving the most popular wartime tractor,

0:26:170:26:21

the Fordson.

0:26:210:26:23

-Hello, Peter.

-So this is her, is it?

0:26:230:26:27

-She's going to do all the work for us?

-Well, we hope so!

0:26:270:26:30

You've got a nice sprung seat here.

0:26:300:26:33

There's no cushions

0:26:330:26:35

but I can remember putting straw into a sack and tying that on.

0:26:350:26:40

-Yeah.

-It was much more comfortable on the bum.

-I bet it was!

0:26:400:26:46

But it's no easy job starting it.

0:26:460:26:50

-Make sure you've got plenty of oil there.

-OK.

0:26:500:26:54

During the war, tractor numbers on British farms would more than

0:26:540:26:58

triple from 55,000 to over 175,000.

0:26:580:27:04

But the Fordson was notoriously difficult to start...

0:27:040:27:08

as Ruth's about to discover.

0:27:080:27:10

And then wind with the starting handle.

0:27:100:27:13

Shall we make Ruth crank this, do you think?

0:27:130:27:15

Oh, you'll have muscles now!

0:27:150:27:18

I've got muscles!

0:27:180:27:19

Blinking heck.

0:27:220:27:23

Jeepers.

0:27:250:27:26

Doubling crop production would need a huge increase in labour

0:27:260:27:30

so women were called upon to drive the tractors.

0:27:300:27:33

SHE GASPS

0:27:350:27:36

Much easier to take a horse out of a stable!

0:27:390:27:41

Yeah, probably quicker at my rate and all!

0:27:410:27:44

-ENGINE SPLUTTERS AND DIES

-Oh, did you hear that?

0:27:440:27:47

Oh, nearly! Nearly!

0:27:470:27:50

How you doing? Do you want me to...?

0:27:500:27:52

No.

0:27:520:27:54

The kind of wartime attitude we need, Ruth.

0:27:570:28:00

ENGINE STARTS

0:28:000:28:02

Congratulations, Ruth.

0:28:040:28:06

Oil and all!

0:28:060:28:08

-You are going to stand well back, aren't you?

-Yes, absolutely, Ruth!

0:28:120:28:16

SHE GRINDS GEARS

0:28:190:28:21

Let's let her get on with it, Peter.

0:28:310:28:33

Yes!

0:28:340:28:35

Pete was just seven when war broke out

0:28:380:28:41

and he witnessed the transition from horse power to mechanical power.

0:28:410:28:45

That was Captain and that was Dick.

0:28:450:28:48

As you can see, I started very, very young.

0:28:480:28:52

Look, that's you on top of that. That's a big dray, isn't it?

0:28:520:28:56

That's it.

0:28:560:28:57

-I take it these aren't your boots here.

-No, they are my fathers.

0:28:570:29:01

I nicked them one day and was off down to the farm.

0:29:010:29:05

-What, you wanted to be a farmer from a young age?

-That's it.

0:29:050:29:08

Come on! Come on, come on.

0:29:080:29:11

ENGINE STALLS

0:29:110:29:12

Argh! I stalled her!

0:29:120:29:16

-The gear changes.

-Were you attempting second, there?

0:29:160:29:19

-I was trying second.

-You were attempting second gear.

-Yeah.

0:29:190:29:22

I'd better go over and see.

0:29:320:29:33

HE LAUGHS

0:29:330:29:36

In the workshop, Peter's mole subsoiler is taking shape.

0:29:390:29:43

But there aren't enough hours of daylight to get it finished in time.

0:29:430:29:47

Using the generator to light the workshop should help.

0:29:470:29:50

This is going to make such a difference.

0:29:500:29:57

Because it is going to enable me to work throughout the evening.

0:29:570:30:02

If they don't get the fields drained and ploughed

0:30:030:30:07

in the next few days, they won't get the wheat crops sown in time.

0:30:070:30:10

Finally!

0:30:130:30:14

Oh, dear.

0:30:160:30:17

On third September, 1939, at 11:15 in the morning,

0:30:250:30:30

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made the announcement

0:30:300:30:33

the nation had been bracing itself for.

0:30:330:30:36

-NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN:

-This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin

0:30:360:30:40

handed the German government a final note

0:30:400:30:44

stating that, unless we heard from them

0:30:440:30:48

by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared at once to withdraw

0:30:480:30:53

their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us.

0:30:530:30:58

I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received

0:31:000:31:06

and that consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

0:31:060:31:12

Somebody who was my age in 1939...

0:31:200:31:23

I'd have been in my mid-20s in the First World War,

0:31:230:31:26

the sort of age when you're losing husbands, losing brothers.

0:31:260:31:28

You have such a strong experience of it and then here it is all again.

0:31:280:31:35

So you're sat here listening to Chamberlain saying,

0:31:350:31:37

"I regret to tell you we're now at War-Again, against the same people."

0:31:370:31:43

You could lose your husband in the first war

0:31:430:31:45

and your son in the second.

0:31:450:31:46

Even so, you'd be sat here looking out the window

0:31:460:31:50

scarcely able to believe it.

0:31:500:31:52

A beautiful summer's day like this.

0:31:520:31:53

Britain was now expecting to be bombed by the Nazis at any time.

0:32:030:32:07

Air raid precaution wardens were tasked

0:32:100:32:12

with protecting the population.

0:32:120:32:14

Steve Taylor is an expert in wartime civil defence.

0:32:150:32:18

One for you.

0:32:180:32:21

One for you.

0:32:220:32:24

The government assumed that the Nazis would used poison gas

0:32:240:32:26

on the population so a gas mask was issued to every man,

0:32:260:32:30

woman and child in the country.

0:32:300:32:32

How do we know there's going to be a gas attack?

0:32:320:32:34

Are we just looking out ourselves for bombers?

0:32:340:32:37

No, you will hear an air raid siren or a rattle.

0:32:370:32:40

I've got the rattle here that I can show you.

0:32:400:32:44

Once you hear that, it's gas masks on immediately.

0:32:440:32:47

As soon as there is an all clear,

0:32:470:32:49

there will be an all clear siren or my trusty ARP whistle.

0:32:490:32:53

THREE LOUD WHISTLES

0:32:530:32:56

-It will tell you it is all clear.

-Right, OK.

0:32:560:32:58

It was also feared that Britain would suffer night bombing.

0:32:590:33:03

A total blackout on the ground would make locating the target

0:33:030:33:06

much more difficult for the enemy.

0:33:060:33:09

Steve's demonstrating how doors were blacked out using a light break.

0:33:090:33:13

So, it's late at night and there is a kerfuffle in the farmyard.

0:33:130:33:18

Sound of a fox at the chickens.

0:33:180:33:21

I go in here, make sure I've closed the curtain first.

0:33:210:33:25

And then open the door.

0:33:250:33:28

And door open.

0:33:280:33:29

-Can you see any light coming in the edges?

-Only through moth holes.

0:33:290:33:33

There we go.

0:33:330:33:34

To black out the windows, Alex and Peter are making removable frames.

0:33:370:33:43

One bespoke blackout frame.

0:33:470:33:51

-Not a single pinprick.

-Proper job, mate.

0:33:530:33:56

-Right, fantastic.

-That is a great job.

0:33:560:34:00

Now all we need to do is get that blackout curtain up.

0:34:000:34:03

All YOU need to do is get a blackout curtain up.

0:34:030:34:05

Right. Others have mole ploughs.

0:34:050:34:07

Of course, you need to get that done, don't you?

0:34:070:34:09

With war, the threat of German U-boats cutting off imports

0:34:110:34:15

became a reality.

0:34:150:34:18

It wasn't just staple foods like wheat that were under threat.

0:34:180:34:22

Imported fruits containing vitamin C were essential to the health of

0:34:220:34:26

the nation, particularly children.

0:34:260:34:28

As a boy, Ruth's father, Jeff Stealy,

0:34:280:34:32

was sent into the countryside to forage for alternatives.

0:34:320:34:37

I remember you telling me all about doing this.

0:34:370:34:40

-How much did they pay you?

-Tuppence a pound.

-Tuppence a pound!

0:34:400:34:45

Which was quite good for pocket money days, it really was.

0:34:450:34:49

If you did it on the wet days, of course, they weighed more.

0:34:490:34:52

Which was quite good.

0:34:520:34:55

That was your compensation for being out in bad weather.

0:34:550:34:58

And with all the men away,

0:34:580:35:00

it was left to the women and largely the boys,

0:35:000:35:03

to go around the hedges, finding apples, picking berries.

0:35:030:35:07

Why rosehips so much? There's not much food value in them.

0:35:070:35:10

Ah, but there's vitamin C.

0:35:100:35:13

So the sources of vitamin C that we've got used to,

0:35:130:35:15

all the oranges and lemons, are no longer coming in.

0:35:150:35:17

And limes, all sorts of Mediterranean stuff,

0:35:170:35:19

couldn't get through. So we're scratching about trying to find

0:35:190:35:23

-native British equivalents.

-Yes.

0:35:230:35:25

Ruth is preserving the rosehips in syrup

0:35:290:35:31

so it can be taken throughout the winter.

0:35:310:35:34

The long, slow, gentle cooking has suited them quite well

0:35:340:35:40

so now I just need to strain all that liquid off.

0:35:400:35:46

Look at the colour!

0:35:460:35:50

So what I am getting out here is the vitamin C.

0:35:500:35:54

And that fleshy bit around the seed,

0:35:540:35:56

it is just like making jam or jelly really.

0:35:560:35:59

And once this is all drained out,

0:36:030:36:06

I will just have to make it into a syrup with sugar.

0:36:060:36:10

The sugar is there to preserve the fruit,

0:36:120:36:15

and then when I bottle it, it will keep.

0:36:150:36:17

Finally, Peter's mole subsoiler is finished.

0:36:250:36:28

And the team can drain the field in preparation for sowing the wheat.

0:36:330:36:38

-Finally, all of those hours out of the shed.

-Yeah.

0:36:390:36:43

It is quite a contraption, isn't it?

0:36:430:36:45

I've got a plan that Peter and I will survey the field,

0:36:450:36:50

we put in all the levels, but the first thing to do is

0:36:500:36:53

to just concentrate on getting in these main drains.

0:36:530:36:57

Yeah.

0:36:570:36:59

Before Peter's contraption can prove itself,

0:36:590:37:01

there's the perennial problem of getting the tractor to start.

0:37:010:37:04

Damn the Fordson!

0:37:040:37:06

ENGINE STARTS

0:37:100:37:13

Stand back!

0:37:250:37:27

GEARS CRUNCH

0:37:290:37:30

It's not going according to plan.

0:37:360:37:39

Ideally, the mole should be cutting a channel

0:37:390:37:41

about a foot beneath the surface.

0:37:410:37:44

Try standing on this.

0:37:490:37:50

Yeah.

0:37:530:37:55

Can we dig a hole and put the mole in so we start with it

0:38:090:38:12

already in the ground rather than trying to go down?

0:38:120:38:17

When war broke out, there were almost four million acres of land

0:38:170:38:21

like this that needed draining.

0:38:210:38:23

OK, let's go.

0:38:300:38:32

The problem is it's pulled the path of least resistance which is up,

0:38:370:38:42

out of the ground.

0:38:420:38:44

It's clear the chassis built by Peter is too light

0:38:450:38:47

to keep the mole in the ground.

0:38:470:38:50

In a corner of the farmyard, Alex has found a much heavier chassis

0:38:500:38:54

to fit Peter's mole subsoiler.

0:38:540:38:56

That sun's nearly down.

0:38:560:38:58

-That's it, lovely.

-That's wonderful!

0:39:000:39:03

But things are about to go from bad to worse.

0:39:030:39:08

The improvised bracket holding the mole has bent

0:39:080:39:11

because it isn't strong enough.

0:39:110:39:12

Well, that's that, then, isn't it?

0:39:150:39:17

Time is running out to get the crops sown

0:39:170:39:19

so they'll have to abandon draining the field.

0:39:190:39:22

As Peter has discovered, improvising farm machinery is no easy task.

0:39:250:39:31

But for the wartime farmer, this could have been disastrous

0:39:310:39:35

and incurred the wrath of the War-Ag.

0:39:350:39:37

If our fields flood, the War-Ag would look at us

0:39:370:39:41

and say, "We need to move them on."

0:39:410:39:44

So we'd just better hope against hope

0:39:440:39:47

that we have an extremely dry summer.

0:39:470:39:50

A farmer's duties to the nation didn't end with attempting

0:39:550:39:59

to double crop production.

0:39:590:40:01

Their knowledge of the landscape made them invaluable recruits

0:40:020:40:06

to one of the war's most secretive organisations.

0:40:060:40:10

The auxiliary units.

0:40:100:40:12

Your names have been put forward

0:40:120:40:15

as men who would like to do something more for the war effort.

0:40:150:40:20

-Is this something?

-Absolutely. Everything we can.

0:40:200:40:24

The auxiliary unit was an resistance force in waiting,

0:40:240:40:28

a last line of defence against Nazi invasion.

0:40:280:40:31

Steve Mason is an expert on the auxiliary units

0:40:340:40:36

stationed here on the south coast.

0:40:360:40:38

Do you think you could kill another man in cold blood?

0:40:380:40:41

-HE INTAKES BREATH

-Tough.

0:40:410:40:44

Those were the sort of questions being put to people at the time.

0:40:440:40:48

-Farmers?

-Absolutely.

0:40:480:40:50

But it really comes down to your personal mettle.

0:40:500:40:54

This is something beyond the Home Guard.

0:40:540:40:57

-This is actually a sort of secret service, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

0:40:570:41:01

Just like the cells they were setting up in Europe at the same time.

0:41:010:41:03

A resistance movement.

0:41:030:41:06

We've heard of the Home Guard. Why don't we hear of these guys?

0:41:060:41:08

The people who joined this particular resistance movement

0:41:080:41:11

had to sign The Official Secrets Act.

0:41:110:41:14

I suppose if, during the war,

0:41:140:41:15

we were held back in a reserved occupation

0:41:150:41:18

and we were of a certain age, then we would be seen as,

0:41:180:41:21

if we both knew the land, as farmers and also quite able-bodied.

0:41:210:41:26

Absolutely.

0:41:260:41:28

So, these are photographs of the men who actually were

0:41:280:41:32

the auxiliaries for this locality.

0:41:320:41:35

You were never to discuss this thing, ever.

0:41:350:41:37

I've spoken to one survivor who was 18 at the time,

0:41:370:41:41

so he's young enough still, now, to talk about it.

0:41:410:41:44

He only wants to discuss the people in that photograph who are dead.

0:41:440:41:49

With the Nazis poised to invade,

0:41:490:41:51

the auxiliary unit were ready to go to ground

0:41:510:41:55

and form a guerrilla network to destroy the enemy's infrastructure.

0:41:550:41:58

Their instruction manuals were cunningly disguised.

0:41:580:42:02

It's got a cover, so if a German invader were to pick it up,

0:42:020:42:06

he would hopefully think that it was an out-of-date calendar

0:42:060:42:09

and not look inside.

0:42:090:42:10

And this tells you how to handle explosives.

0:42:100:42:15

And again, more tricks of the trade.

0:42:150:42:18

How to blow up a petrol tank.

0:42:180:42:20

How to blow up railway lines.

0:42:210:42:24

Do you think, putting yourselves back there,

0:42:240:42:27

would you really actually have signed up for it?

0:42:270:42:30

I... I think so.

0:42:300:42:32

If you were a reserved occupation like a farmer, for example,

0:42:320:42:36

is there going to be a sense that you want to be out on the front line?

0:42:360:42:40

Although you're farming, you want a bit of action.

0:42:400:42:44

Itching to get involved.

0:42:440:42:45

Yeah, I wonder whether that might have played a part

0:42:450:42:48

in some people signing up.

0:42:480:42:50

A number of them do say that. They actually just wanted

0:42:500:42:52

to get their hands on some action, as corny as it sounds.

0:42:520:42:55

Unbeknown to the boys, like many farmers' wives,

0:43:030:43:07

Ruth, too, has been conscripted into secret service.

0:43:070:43:11

Gardening has taken on a whole new significance.

0:43:160:43:19

Particularly in this potting shed.

0:43:190:43:21

Because, whilst the boys think I'm out in the garden, and they are

0:43:210:43:26

well out of the way in the fields, what I'm really doing in here...

0:43:260:43:32

is this.

0:43:320:43:34

Ruth's been recruited into the Special Duties Section.

0:43:360:43:39

Their mission -

0:43:390:43:41

to handle communication between the auxiliary units in the field and HQ.

0:43:410:43:45

This is my aerial.

0:43:450:43:48

About 3,500 people were involved - vicars, barmaids, farmers,

0:43:480:43:53

farmers' wives and housewives.

0:43:530:43:55

And yet, almost nobody knows about it.

0:43:550:43:58

They really just kept that quiet.

0:43:580:44:00

There are instances in which a wife was doing this with the radio,

0:44:000:44:04

whilst the husband was out doing other auxiliary work,

0:44:040:44:08

and neither of them told each other

0:44:080:44:10

until they were in their 80s or 90s, years and years later.

0:44:100:44:14

In some ways, it's comical. But it's also really serious.

0:44:140:44:18

People were expecting to be invaded.

0:44:180:44:20

They were expecting that this sort of work

0:44:200:44:22

put their lives in serious danger.

0:44:220:44:24

If you had been caught with a radio when the Germans came

0:44:240:44:28

you were looking at not just execution,

0:44:280:44:30

but probably at torture too.

0:44:300:44:31

We confirm a successful patrol manoeuvre, four men,

0:44:390:44:44

evidence of explosives.

0:44:440:44:46

Northwest of Arbor Wood. Approximate time, 0015. Location, Hamble. G.

0:44:460:44:52

Despite their important top-secret military duties, the priority

0:44:530:44:58

for farmers was doubling crop production to feed the nation.

0:44:580:45:02

Although the team were unable to mole drain the boggy field,

0:45:050:45:08

the task now is to plough as quickly as possible

0:45:080:45:11

in preparation for sowing the wheat.

0:45:110:45:14

With the days drawing shorter, the War Agricultural Committee

0:45:170:45:20

encouraged farmers to plough on into the night.

0:45:200:45:24

We've got to plough through the night,

0:45:300:45:32

and this was something that was expected during the war.

0:45:320:45:35

Not something I expect people did willingly, really,

0:45:350:45:38

but unfortunately, we've just got to do this, because we're so behind.

0:45:380:45:42

Ploughing at night creates unique problems.

0:45:420:45:45

Right, so this is our lantern, and it's just in the hedge,

0:45:470:45:50

and it's going to give something for Ruth to fix on, on the horizon,

0:45:500:45:54

so she can drive, theoretically, in a straight line.

0:45:540:45:57

I'm a bit worried about using these lights in the blackout.

0:45:590:46:02

I reckon that the lamps in the hedge probably could be hidden, anyway.

0:46:020:46:08

This one's already got a hood on it. And this lamp would be moving.

0:46:080:46:12

-So, I just aim at the light in the hedge?

-Yep, that's the idea.

0:46:120:46:15

When you think about ploughing, you think about the horseman,

0:46:370:46:42

out there with his horses, gently ploughing away in the quiet,

0:46:420:46:45

perhaps on a nice, sunny spring morning.

0:46:450:46:47

But, during the Second World War,

0:46:470:46:49

ploughing was a very different monster.

0:46:490:46:51

And the plough, really, had become a weapon of war.

0:46:510:46:54

It was the farmer's principal weapon of war.

0:46:540:46:57

Now, I'm not entirely sure we're getting this right,

0:46:590:47:02

but we're putting our all into it and Ruth's doing a fantastic job.

0:47:020:47:06

Hopefully, by the end of the month, we'll have the field done.

0:47:060:47:10

Next morning, Ruth is called into action

0:47:210:47:24

by the Special Duties Section.

0:47:240:47:27

Her mission? To pass a message on to the auxiliary unit.

0:47:270:47:31

Hampshire, with its strategic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth,

0:47:330:47:37

was a key target for invasion.

0:47:370:47:39

So more auxiliary units were stationed here

0:47:390:47:42

than any county in Britain.

0:47:420:47:45

Military expert Gerald Sutcliffe is leading Alex and Peter's patrol.

0:47:450:47:50

What we are going into now, is an OB, and operation base.

0:47:500:47:55

We've got, basically, a little bunker.

0:47:550:47:57

We've already got some equipment, munitions and rations in.

0:47:570:48:01

Let's go and have a look at it now, shall we?

0:48:010:48:05

All over the country, around the coast in particular,

0:48:110:48:14

groups like us,

0:48:140:48:16

we're going to be providing a nasty surprise for Herr Hitler.

0:48:160:48:20

Unlike the other countries which had the unfortunate experience

0:48:200:48:24

of these jackboots going over them, we are ready.

0:48:240:48:28

We're going to come up behind him and blow up his petrol dumps.

0:48:280:48:32

We're going to blow up his ammunition dumps.

0:48:320:48:34

We're going to sabotage his tanks. We're going to shoot his officers

0:48:340:48:38

and anybody that helps him.

0:48:380:48:40

The aim was to transform ordinary farmers with no military experience

0:48:420:48:45

into guerrilla saboteurs.

0:48:450:48:49

Alex has picked up the message

0:48:490:48:51

dropped by the Special Duties Section

0:48:510:48:54

with details of a training exercise.

0:48:540:48:56

We've been left a note advising us

0:48:560:48:59

that a German patrol of ten men was expected.

0:48:590:49:04

At the moment, my thoughts are, we will ambush their patrol.

0:49:040:49:10

This is a typical exercise, passed on by the mysterious Agent R.

0:49:100:49:16

-Agent R, I wonder who that could be.

-That's the point.

0:49:160:49:20

You will never know. And neither will I.

0:49:200:49:23

You never know the names of the intelligence section

0:49:230:49:26

and they don't know you.

0:49:260:49:28

They just leave little messages for us.

0:49:280:49:31

And we pick them up and we never see them, or them us.

0:49:310:49:34

Training by night and working in the fields by day

0:49:380:49:42

meant a wartime farmer could find himself working 17-hour days.

0:49:420:49:46

I want two members of the team to go up on the ridgeline,

0:49:490:49:53

while I go down and arrange a couple of surprises.

0:49:530:49:57

And one of you can cover me while that's going on.

0:49:570:50:00

Why do I have to go in front all the time, Peter?

0:50:030:50:06

Alex and Peter keep watch from the ridge line.

0:50:060:50:09

Following instructions set out in the auxiliary unit manual,

0:50:100:50:14

Gerald sets a booby trap.

0:50:140:50:16

What I'm going to rig up is a grenade with the pin removed,

0:50:160:50:22

but sufficient pressure on top of it,

0:50:220:50:25

so that when somebody kicks it,

0:50:250:50:27

it's going to release the lever and go bang.

0:50:270:50:33

OK.

0:50:340:50:36

And rejoin the others.

0:50:360:50:38

This being an exercise, there are no Germans,

0:50:380:50:41

and Gerry's grenade is simply a thunder flash.

0:50:410:50:44

-ALL:

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

0:50:450:50:47

Stop!

0:50:500:50:52

Well, good for a first attempt.

0:50:530:50:55

-You think so?

-I think so.

0:50:550:50:57

-They would have used all sorts of methods to simulate combat.

-OK.

0:50:570:51:01

I did it that way because you weren't expecting it,

0:51:010:51:04

-to add that bit of tension and realism.

-Yeah.

0:51:040:51:07

So you were both conditioning us and testing us at the same time?

0:51:070:51:12

Yes.

0:51:120:51:13

Alex, Ruth and Peter have now been wartime farmers for two months.

0:51:210:51:26

For Ruth, the work in the fields

0:51:320:51:34

has left little time for domestic duties,

0:51:340:51:35

so she's taken another step towards modernising the kitchen

0:51:350:51:39

by fitting lino.

0:51:390:51:41

Fantastic!

0:51:410:51:43

You often hear about labour-saving things in the kitchen,

0:51:460:51:49

and you sort of imagine it's all about gadgets.

0:51:490:51:52

Nah. It's about things like this -

0:51:520:51:55

the things that make the big difference.

0:51:550:51:58

Instead of spending, you know,

0:51:580:52:01

45 minutes twice a day on the floor,

0:52:010:52:03

like you might have to with a stone/flag floor,

0:52:030:52:07

I can run over with a mop and bucket in ten minutes.

0:52:070:52:12

The paraffin stove is also helping to save time.

0:52:180:52:21

Unlike an old-fashioned coal range, it's up and running in seconds.

0:52:210:52:27

Ruth's using it to cook a quick meal from her 1930s cookbook -

0:52:270:52:31

fried bacon with bananas.

0:52:310:52:34

It's such an odd recipe to find in a late '30s book.

0:52:340:52:37

It took me so by surprise.

0:52:370:52:39

Bacon's going to become a thing of scarcity.

0:52:390:52:43

By 1939, we were already bringing in

0:52:430:52:46

quite a significant proportion of our bacon from Denmark.

0:52:460:52:50

And then the bananas go in the butter.

0:52:530:52:56

Bananas would soon disappear completely from the shops,

0:52:560:53:00

as the government requisitioned banana boats to import

0:53:000:53:03

materials essential to the war effort.

0:53:030:53:05

From the declaration of war in September 1939 until May 1940,

0:53:070:53:13

no bombers appeared overhead, and the gas attacks didn't materialise.

0:53:130:53:18

It became known as the Phoney War.

0:53:180:53:20

But by June 1940, after the British had been

0:53:230:53:26

driven into the sea at Dunkirk, the mood was darkening.

0:53:260:53:29

France fell to the Nazis, and as the new Prime Minister

0:53:320:53:36

Winston Churchill warned, Britain was next in line.

0:53:360:53:39

..and growing strength in the air,

0:53:390:53:43

we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.

0:53:430:53:46

We shall fight on the beaches,

0:53:460:53:49

we shall fight on the landing grounds,

0:53:490:53:52

we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,

0:53:520:53:56

we shall fight in the hills.

0:53:560:53:58

We shall never surrender.

0:53:580:54:01

I think it's quite interesting, isn't it,

0:54:010:54:03

that that speech is so iconic.

0:54:030:54:06

It must have been terrifying for people, as well,

0:54:060:54:08

to think that there could possibly have been fighting on the beaches

0:54:080:54:13

and in the fields, and somewhere like Hampshire, where we are,

0:54:130:54:16

I gather would be sort of on the front line.

0:54:160:54:18

It's the whole problem, isn't it, of looking back at the war?

0:54:180:54:21

-We know that we won.

-Mmm.

0:54:210:54:23

People at the time did not know that.

0:54:230:54:27

So I suppose the farmers at the time, they'd be -

0:54:270:54:30

hopefully - buoyed up to get a success in that harvest.

0:54:300:54:35

It would have loaded a lot of pressure on their shoulders,

0:54:350:54:38

you know? It would have really hammered home

0:54:380:54:41

just how important it would have been to have brought that crop in,

0:54:410:54:45

and to have a brought a brilliant crop in as well.

0:54:450:54:47

And that's all about the connectedness too, isn't it?

0:54:470:54:49

You know, everybody's hearing that, all together.

0:54:490:54:52

You feel like you've absolutely got to do it right to do justice

0:54:520:54:57

to the effort that was put in from '39 through...

0:54:570:55:00

I certainly feel a big responsibility

0:55:000:55:03

to those people who went through this and who are still alive.

0:55:030:55:05

-You know, it's not something to be taken lightly, is it?

-No.

0:55:050:55:09

We're messing with people's memories as well as with Britain's history.

0:55:090:55:12

Well, indeed.

0:55:120:55:13

KNOCK AT DOOR

0:55:130:55:15

-Hello?

-I haven't put that curtain up, you know.

0:55:150:55:18

It'll be all right, don't worry.

0:55:180:55:20

-Oh, hello, Steve.

-Good evening, Peter.

0:55:200:55:22

-Hello!

-Hello, Ruth.

-A pleasant surprise.

0:55:220:55:25

-Come and join us! Take a seat.

-How are you? Good to see you.

0:55:250:55:27

-You're in luck. Have a cake.

-Good grief!

0:55:270:55:31

I'm on my rounds. I have to say, what a marvellous job you've done

0:55:310:55:34

-with all your windows.

-Peter, I told you there...

0:55:340:55:37

-But...

-Oh.

0:55:370:55:39

You're going to be in for a fine,

0:55:390:55:41

-cos you're showing the light under your door.

-Really?

-Yeah.

0:55:410:55:44

You haven't put the curtain up.

0:55:440:55:45

So what is the consequences?

0:55:450:55:48

The County Court will summons you.

0:55:480:55:50

Anything from three shillings to seven and six, I would think.

0:55:500:55:54

Of course, the other thing to mention

0:55:540:55:55

is the excessive lights you're burning.

0:55:550:55:57

For a small room, you've got three lights.

0:55:570:55:59

-So that would incur another fine.

-Oh, good grief.

0:55:590:56:02

-Lord!

-I was just enjoying having electricity!

0:56:020:56:06

It's that classic thing where you're not physically doing the thing,

0:56:060:56:09

like filling your oil lamp. If you've just got electricity,

0:56:090:56:12

you don't think about that power source and how much you're using.

0:56:120:56:15

Well, I think we should enjoy these desserts while we can,

0:56:150:56:19

cos I think from now on in,

0:56:190:56:20

-things are only going to get tougher, aren't they?

-Mmm.

0:56:200:56:23

-What, like this guy?

-Yeah!

0:56:230:56:24

THEY LAUGH

0:56:240:56:25

You put that light out, I'll put this one out.

0:56:250:56:28

-And the radio!

-Let's get this curtain up, then.

0:56:280:56:31

Keep it running, Ruth!

0:56:370:56:39

The team's back on track

0:56:520:56:54

with the task of increasing the farm's food production.

0:56:540:56:57

The wheat field is ploughed.

0:56:570:57:00

Next, it's harrowed to break-up the earth...

0:57:000:57:03

..and sowed with the wheat seed.

0:57:060:57:09

If all goes well, in nine months' time,

0:57:090:57:11

they should have a good crop to harvest.

0:57:110:57:14

We have cracked on, haven't we? We really have cracked on.

0:57:140:57:17

How many million acres was it they ploughed up extra in '39?

0:57:170:57:20

By the spring of 1940, 1.7 million acres.

0:57:200:57:22

-Extra.

-Extra. On top of what they were already doing.

0:57:220:57:25

On top of what they were already doing.

0:57:250:57:27

A lot of farmers said it couldn't be done.

0:57:270:57:30

They shook their heads and said, "No, you can't do that."

0:57:300:57:32

And they turned around and did it.

0:57:320:57:34

Wartime farmers didn't know it yet, but this was just a start.

0:57:370:57:42

They still had five years of war to endure,

0:57:420:57:45

and conditions were only going to get tougher

0:57:450:57:48

as they struggled to feed the nation.

0:57:480:57:51

Next on Wartime Farm...

0:57:580:58:00

The team face the conditions of 1940, and the Blitz.

0:58:010:58:05

They confront rationing...

0:58:070:58:09

That's particularly hard to make last the week.

0:58:090:58:13

..make use of every last resource,

0:58:140:58:16

and there's temptation round every corner.

0:58:160:58:20

You're well on your way to becoming...

0:58:200:58:22

-BOTH:

-A black marketeer.

0:58:220:58:23

To find out how Britain fed itself during the Second World War,

0:58:250:58:28

and how rationing affected the wartime diet,

0:58:280:58:31

order the Open University's free Wartime Farm booklet.

0:58:310:58:34

Call, or go to the website...

0:58:340:58:36

..and follow the links to the Open University.

0:58:410:58:43

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0:59:070:59:10

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