0:00:04 > 0:00:07It's nearly Christmas on the Victorian farm.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10- Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn... - Big tree!
0:00:10 > 0:00:15..and Alex Langlands are putting on a banquet for the entire estate.
0:00:15 > 0:00:22There's a huge amount of preparation to do, but work on the farm doesn't stop just because it's Christmas.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24- Oi!- Clumper.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27- Whoa!- There are Victorian favourites to rediscover...
0:00:27 > 0:00:32This is exactly the method Bob Cratchit's wife would have used to cook her Christmas puddings.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Yeah, it's mentioned, isn't it, in A Christmas Carol?
0:00:35 > 0:00:37..last minute shopping to do...
0:00:37 > 0:00:40This is real nose pressed against the glass thing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44..and gifts to make.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46That's it now. Hit it. Oh!
0:00:48 > 0:00:49If all goes to plan...
0:00:49 > 0:00:51THEY CHEER
0:00:51 > 0:00:55..they can enjoy the Christmas feast with their landlord, Mr Acton,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58and the people of the Acton Scott estate.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Here's to hard-working Victorian farmers.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05- Cheers.- Wherever they may be.
0:01:05 > 0:01:06Queen Victoria.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08ALL: Queen Victoria!
0:01:20 > 0:01:25In just three days, the team will celebrate Christmas on the Victorian farm.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31And at the heart of the Victorian Christmas was charity.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36In the church, their landlord's son, Rupert Acton,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39shows Alex an example of this seasonal generosity.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43The charity that we had in Acton Scott is this one.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48Before the advent of the welfare state, private individuals would give money to charities
0:01:48 > 0:01:53and there would be a sum of money paid out to the poorest people in the village.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59So, this is a common way, then, of just making sure that everyone knows that the poor have got a stock
0:01:59 > 0:02:03- and they've got some charity being given to them every year.- Right.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08So what can we do, then, to recreate something of this sort of Victorian charity?
0:02:08 > 0:02:13Well, the records show that they were holding a party for the tenants and the servants.
0:02:13 > 0:02:19That's something that would, I'm sure, go down very well with the people in the parish.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24- So you're happy to stump up the cash for the location...- Certainly. - ..and some of the food?- Yes.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27- If I go out and get a Christmas tree.- You're welcome to do that.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33In Victorian times, landlords would host a Christmas feast,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38but it was down to the tenants to do the hard work of preparing it.
0:02:38 > 0:02:44Time's short, so Ruth's drafted in food historian Ivan Day to help.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49First, the Christmas pudding, boiled in the washroom's copper.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02This is exactly the method Bob Cratchit's wife would have used to cook her Christmas pudding.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Yeah, it's mentioned, isn't it, in A Christmas Carol?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10While the water boils, Ruth and Ivan make the pudding.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14But if we're going to make a real traditional Victorian Christmas pudding,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18what everybody thinks about are those cannonballs you get on Christmas cards.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Yeah, absolutely. Really round one. My one last year did not.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25- I got it out the cloth and it just went...- Pfft. Right, yeah.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29The one we're going to make is a slightly more old-fashioned recipe.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33- It's from the same author, Eliza Acton, from the 1840s. - I like her food.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37And what we'll do is we'll make two puddings. We'll make one in a cloth,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and we'll also make a very fancy one,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44which is the sort of thing they probably would have had at the big house.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- Oh, that's pretty. - This is a cake mould.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49- A lovely...- Isn't that pretty? - ..19th-century cake mould.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- You can use it. You can put your mixture in there.- OK.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55When you see pictures of Victorian posh dinner parties,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58they're full of things like that on the plate, aren't they?
0:03:58 > 0:04:02They really liked those sorts of very elaborate standy-uppy shapes.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Like modern Christmas puddings, the Victorian version
0:04:08 > 0:04:12was packed with expensive ingredients, like dried fruit and candied peel,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15mixed with flour and suet.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17But it had an unlikely origin.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20The earliest Christmas pudding, I think, that was eaten,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23which we have records of in this country,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27is something that was called hakin or a hack pudding,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31and it had to be ready for Christmas morning breakfast.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34And what it was - it was like a Christmas pudding mixture,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36but it was actually boiled in a sheep's stomach.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40And everyone, when they hear that, think of the haggis, really,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44and this is really in the haggis family. A Christmas pudding is a sweet haggis, basically.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50Well, they're often called puddings, aren't they? You think of black pudding, you think of white puddings.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Anything that's boiled in a casing is called a pudding, isn't it?
0:04:53 > 0:04:58Yeah, but the thing is, cleaning out pigs' intestines for white puddings,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02- or a sheep's stomach... - Is a messy job.- ..is a horrible job.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05So some wag decided to boil it in a bag, but...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08the haggis really is the forerunner of the Christmas pudding.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13So, we've got to put in some liquid ingredients,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17and, of course, the really important one is the brandy wine, or brandy.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20- Aah!- And this is quite interesting,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23because a lot of modern cooks reading this Victorian recipe
0:05:23 > 0:05:26would see that you have to put four glasses -
0:05:26 > 0:05:28and it says wine glasses - of brandy.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And of course a Victorian wine glass...
0:05:31 > 0:05:33- Is that big.- Is that big.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34THEY CHUCKLE
0:05:37 > 0:05:39And then we'll put the spice in.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Nutmeg and cinnamon are added to the mixture.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45That's the smell of Christmas Eve.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Drop that in, like that, and just give it a gentle push,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53- so that the air comes out. - Oh, look at that.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55- Perfect quantity and everything.- Yep.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57SHE CHUCKLES
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- We're not just a pretty face. - Not just a pretty face.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03And then for everybody else...
0:06:03 > 0:06:06You're actually going to form it into a ball shape anyway.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07Right, before it goes into the basin.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Yeah. Now, of course, the pudding cloth is a much better thing
0:06:11 > 0:06:13than...your sheep's stomach.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17We're going to now tie that, and we'll tie that tightly. OK?
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Whoa! IVAN CHUCKLES
0:06:20 > 0:06:22- Oh, we're definitely boiling. - Pudding time!
0:06:22 > 0:06:25The pudding cooks in the copper.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28- Whoa! Look at that boiling. - There you go. That is...
0:06:28 > 0:06:31There's enough room in there for six of them, but we'll pop that in.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33- Perfect.- OK.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Now, that is going to have to stay in there for six hours, believe it or not.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Who said the Victorians didn't have saunas, eh? Isn't this nice?
0:06:41 > 0:06:44So if we have our anvil there.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Fire. Tools.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50- Anvil down here, yeah?- I think so. - Can we get that next?- Yeah.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Work on the farm doesn't stop for Christmas.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55- On the floor here?- Yeah.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01For the last few weeks, the team's been busy restoring the estate's blacksmith's forge.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04This was where the estate's ironwork was done,
0:07:04 > 0:07:06from tools to hinges to horseshoes.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Oh, look at that. Like a glove.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11THEY GROAN
0:07:11 > 0:07:15The success of the forge relies on creating a fire hot enough to soften iron,
0:07:15 > 0:07:21and that means temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23So Peter rebuilt the chimney,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27while Alex fitted bellows to blow air through the fire.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35Blacksmith John Herbertson has come to help the boys light the restored forge
0:07:35 > 0:07:38for the first time in half a century.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40- Hi, John.- Hello, how are you doing?
0:07:40 > 0:07:44OK, yeah. The bellows are in. That looks like it's working.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Peter's just filling up the cooling system.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Blacksmiths use a special type of coal - coke.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56You can fill it right up because your coke is your fire.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59It's also your source of fuel and it's your working surface.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04- Right, OK. How's that?- That's fine.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11- Here we go. This is the first time this fire hole is going to have seen fire...
0:08:11 > 0:08:12In a long time.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17- That's it, Alex.- Get it in there.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23Myself and Alex, we've been working really hard to get this place ready.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26And, er...it's great to see it finally being used.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Very gently. That's... OK. Just nurse it.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32BELLOWS CREAK
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Noisy old bellows, aren't they?
0:08:36 > 0:08:40Sounds a bit like you snoring, Peter.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Ah, look at that. That's the fire. That's going.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Just don't choke it off, Alex.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49- OK, we'll get the coke on the fire now.- OK.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53Just try and leave at least one hole for a tongue of flame to come out.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57So that's banked up there, John, and I can actually hear there's a different sound now.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02That's fine, but you can give it a bit more welly on the bellows now.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- Bit of elbow grease there. - Yes, keep it going.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08- They're quite slow filling up. - Never mind the filling up.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Pump it and keep that top one high up, almost touching the bar.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17That's looking pretty healthy now, so you can just keep pumping, Peter.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Shove some more coke on it, Alex. And that's it, you're away.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22How you feeling, Peter?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Good. Really good.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Now the moment of truth.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Just how good are the bellows and the chimney?
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Will the fire get hot enough to soften iron?
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Most forging, the hotter the better.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38So we're looking for at least yellow,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and, frankly, sometimes you want it almost white hot.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Don't pussy foot.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45You won't hurt anything. That's it.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51- I'm always very tentative around fires, but you can actually be quite robust.- Gosh, yes. You've got to be.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- Could it get too hot? - Yeah, it can burn, which we're about to do just to show...
0:09:55 > 0:09:58There you are, you're burning. Wonderful.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Well, that really proves the fire is good.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04But that burning is basically saying that we're getting the heat we need.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08- You've got all the heat you can get out of that fire.- So we've got a working forge now.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10- We just need to pick up the skills. - Yes.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16After half a century,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20the forge is up and running and open for business.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26Whoa!
0:10:26 > 0:10:29The Christmas pudding's been boiling for six hours.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34It's really like some infernal cauldron.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37So we'll just put it into there and we'll leave it, OK?
0:10:37 > 0:10:41- Right. Let that settle. - And let it just firm up a bit,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44before we actually put it onto a plate.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47- Let's get the fancy moulded one out first.- OK. You should do that one.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48I don't think I'm...
0:10:48 > 0:10:53- Well, it's the most nerve-racking...business.- Ooh!
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Just turn it upside down and hope.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56So let's just see what happens.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58SHE IMITATES A DRUM ROLL
0:10:58 > 0:11:01They don't just drop out, usually.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03- You have to shake. - They take a bit of persuading.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08Ooh! SHE GASPS
0:11:09 > 0:11:13- And there's a perfect Victorian moulded Christmas pudding.- Cor!
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- OK?- That is spectacular!
0:11:16 > 0:11:19- Fantastic. - SHE CHUCKLES
0:11:19 > 0:11:22That hasn't been done for a long time.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Next, the cannonball.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- Can you smell that? Wonderful, isn't it?- I can.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30- I can. It smells great.- Fantastic. So what we're going to do...
0:11:30 > 0:11:33is we're going to put the plate on,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35and do a sort of Tommy Cooper-type thing,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37but we'll have to do it very gently.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41OK. And then, if I can just lift that off...
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Now, what we've got to do is just tease off the cloth,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47very...gently, like that.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50And there's your perfect Victorian cannonball.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53As illustrated in all of the...
0:11:53 > 0:11:56- All of the books.- ..Christmas cards and all the books.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58- Little sprig of holly.- OK.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59Wonderful!
0:11:59 > 0:12:02- So...- Don't they look great?
0:12:08 > 0:12:12- Head down.- At the forge, the first customer has arrived.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15The estate's shire horse, Clumper.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Right. We're ready to go. I'll get him tethered up.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Clumper needs re-shoeing -
0:12:20 > 0:12:22a job for a farrier.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Tom Williamson is a farrier with over 40 years' experience.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31His first job is to remove Clumper's old shoes.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37You know, this building really was, if you like, the beating heart of the village.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39You know, so much would be going on here.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42In themselves, the crafts were so important to the village,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47but at the same time, because everyone was coming here, it was quite a gossipy place as well.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51So, it really is a kind of essential place in any Victorian village.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57Horses' hooves are like fingernails, growing up to an inch a month,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01and this new growth must be removed before fitting new shoes.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05So, Tom, to shoe or not to shoe? That is the question.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Why do you have to shoe horses?
0:13:07 > 0:13:10The wagon that he pulls - the four-wheel wagon -
0:13:10 > 0:13:12weighs a ton before they put anything in it.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16The pressure and the friction on his feet would be tremendous,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20and he would soon wear them down and he would soon become lame.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24So to protect the foot from excessive wear, we put a shoe on.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27If they're not doing that much work they really do not require shoeing.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33- How's it looking?- Fine.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Heavy horses like Clumper must be re-shod every six weeks,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40with brand new custom-made shoes.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Into the first bend.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48Goes cold quite quick.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Hurts like the devil when it catches you in the eye.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56And I notice you're doing all these holes by eye.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Yeah.- Is that something you just get from experience?
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Hopefully! HE CHUCKLES
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Just making it... Taking the sharp edges off. Making it look right.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17- So this is the other side of the shoe.- Second bend.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25Now it's beginning to look like a shoe.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Farriers are their own worst enemy.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33We make the job look very rough and ready,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37but it's got to be absolutely spot on.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41The Victorian farrier served a four-year apprenticeship to learn these skills.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45He required not only the craft of the blacksmith, but also knowledge of horse anatomy.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48- A lot of people get me mixed up with the blacksmith.- Right.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53- Is that sacrilege, is it? - It is to me, yeah. I'm a farrier, not a blacksmith.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The blacksmith does only metal work,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59metal fittings for the wagons and the wheels - or always did -
0:14:59 > 0:15:02and the farrier, he shoes horses.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07The blacksmiths are older and uglier than what we are. They've been going for about 4,000 years.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09- Right.- Farriers have only been going for 2,000 years,
0:15:09 > 0:15:14so this system of shoeing horses hasn't altered in 2,000 years.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23What do you think of our forge? How's it going so far? All right?
0:15:23 > 0:15:25It's great, yeah. It's going well.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Ruth and Ivan are busy preparing for the estate's Christmas banquet.
0:15:41 > 0:15:42Next, the main dish.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Christmas pie, packed with four birds -
0:15:45 > 0:15:48duck, chicken, partridge and pigeon.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51These were actually made on a huge scale,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54even being served in Windsor in 1857.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57A giant one, carried by four footmen
0:15:57 > 0:16:00on a stretcher, has been taken to Her Majesty's dining room.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02SHE CHUCKLES
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Really, in a household like this, of course,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08game is something that would not have been experienced very often,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12unless it was a gift of the landlord.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15OK. We've got a hell of a lot of meat to get into this.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20The four birds go into a pie mould lined with pastry and stuffing.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22OK. So what we've got here is one hen.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26So if we drop this guy in like that...
0:16:28 > 0:16:29..and just let him overhang...
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Next, the de-boned goose.
0:16:38 > 0:16:39OK.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43So we've got two little breasts of pigeon.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47And let's go for a couple of little...
0:16:47 > 0:16:50breasts of partridge.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52- So, that's the partridge.- Nice.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55OK. So there you've got... We've got four birds,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58all inside each other.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01We've basically got the traditional Christmas pie.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Like that, OK?
0:17:03 > 0:17:06So when you slice the pie, you're going to get rings, aren't you?
0:17:06 > 0:17:13We'll finish off with a little bit of bacon as a finishing flourish.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Then the pie is decorated.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19We're going to use this lovely...
0:17:19 > 0:17:24It's called a pie board, and it's for making little decorative leaves.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Like that.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34OK. And then...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36kind of final decoration is this sprig mould,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38which is in the form of a flower.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Just push it in really hard like that, and then...
0:17:42 > 0:17:47It should, in a perfect world, just pop out.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- Wa-hey!- There it is.- And it did.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- OK?- Oh, it's really pretty.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Pop it on the top.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57So that's basically the Christmas pie.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05The pie is eaten cold, so once cooked it'll be kept on the pantry's cold stone until Christmas.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17How's it looking, then?
0:18:17 > 0:18:20- I think that's about it.- Ready to go?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Clumper's new shoes are ready to be fitted.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25OK, we've got it just about ready.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27Not too hot.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29They'll burn on too much and scald the foot,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31so I've got to be a bit careful.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33- So you're burning on?- Yes. - What does that mean?
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Well, when I go outside, you'll see exactly what we're doing.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38You're going to put it on hot. OK.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Good lad. Up, up.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The hot shoe burns an impression onto the horn of the hoof,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48showing Tom how well it's fitting.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52And this doesn't hurt him?
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Not as long as we don't do it too much.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Way up.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- He's too tight at the heels.- Yeah. - He's not too bad at the toe.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02So we need to open him up at the heels there and there.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06- OK? So we're just going to adjust that a little bit more. - Just a little bit more.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13- You've got to work quick, cos all the while it's cooling. - Cooling down.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18So you can't afford to be casual?
0:19:18 > 0:19:22The shoe has got to be absolutely level.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28So working this quickly then, how many horses would a Victorian farrier shoe in a day?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I should think he probably did at least eight horses a day.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35- Eight horses a day?- Yeah. But they did it more of a production line.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45After final adjustments, the shoe's ready to be nailed to Clumper's foot.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47- Up, up.- Come on, Clumps.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56OK.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00- So you're going to put that into that horse's foot, are you?- Yep.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04There's a right way and a wrong way to put them in. If you go in the wrong way you'll know about it.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06You go towards the bone.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07Ho, ho, steady.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Get up.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13When done by a skilled farrier, the horse feels nothing.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16But there's little margin for error.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19- Stand still.- Clumper! You stand there.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24Driving in a nail at the wrong angle can make a horse lame for life.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29As the nail comes through the foot, you have to rip it off pretty quick.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32That's a long piece of nail.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Hammer goes on. Bring it off.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39- Stand still.- Stand there.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Not a small man's game, this, then?
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Well, a small man, normally they're very good at this actually.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- They don't get so much back trouble in a small man.- Right.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51Stand there, Clumper.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56And now we can see the amount of growth we've had from one set of shoeing to another.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01So you can see where the old nail holes are in comparison to the new ones.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03So that's roughly sort of six weeks' growth, then, there?
0:21:03 > 0:21:06OK, so we'd better finish him off.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09- Oi!- Clumper.- Come up.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13- Step on.- So you just run your hand across...- Yep.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15..make sure it's all nice and smooth,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17and drop it.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Drop him down.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Well, there we go, fella.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25- ALEX CHUCKLES - How many did you say they did a day?
0:21:25 > 0:21:29- Eight a day?- They'd probably do a few before breakfast, so...
0:21:36 > 0:21:40It's now just two days before the Christmas feast.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Oh, that smells absolutely delicious.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48Ruth and Ivan have already done some food preparation,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52but there's still plenty more cooking to do, as well as the hall to decorate.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Alex is scouring the estate to find a Christmas tree.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04This is the full complement of the woodman's tools, short of a billhook.
0:22:04 > 0:22:11I've brought them all because it's going to be pretty difficult to get this tree out of here.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15And I've had my eye on this one here, so...
0:22:15 > 0:22:18I'm hoping it's going to come out easily.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It was actually Prince Albert,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29the consort of Queen Victoria herself,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33who was responsible... for introducing...
0:22:33 > 0:22:37the...Christmas tree... to these shores.
0:22:37 > 0:22:44He imported, in the 1840s, trees from Coburg, his...native country.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46It's a part of Germany.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52And in fact, Dickens even refers... to Christmas trees
0:22:52 > 0:22:57as being a German toy that the upper classes were indulging themselves with.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06Listen.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08There he is.
0:23:09 > 0:23:15Beauty. And there we have our Victorian Christmas tree.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19As well as the Christmas tree,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23the Victorian age saw the birth of another institution -
0:23:23 > 0:23:24Christmas cards.
0:23:26 > 0:23:32Collector Jackie Brown has brought a very special Christmas card from 1843 to show Ruth.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35..Sir Henry Cole, as he became known as.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38You've got THE first Christmas card, haven't you?
0:23:38 > 0:23:40- I have, Ruth. - RUTH CHUCKLES
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Here it is.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46- That's the real thing?- This is, yes. - The very first Christmas card.- Yep.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48That's quite impressive, isn't it?
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Well, it was sparked by an idea by Henry Cole, who became Sir Henry Cole,
0:23:52 > 0:23:57and he was one of the leading entrepreneurs of the Victorian age.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59And finding himself a bit pushed for time
0:23:59 > 0:24:05to do his normal habit of writing letters to all his friends and family at Christmas time,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08he called in an artist friend of his, John Horsley,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and said, "Could you come up with a good image that we could use?"
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Er, which is...which is this.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18It's really interesting. There's no religious imagery at all.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21It's all about, like, there's the ivy decorating the whole area.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25People sitting down to a big Christmas dinner. Drinking loads, eating loads.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29There's a Christmas pud and lots of wine. And what are these images?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32It's feeding and clothing the poor and needy.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37Right, so charity, family, feasting, decking the halls.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38Not a lot of God.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43No, and it caused real problems with the puritans of the age,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47because they took exception to this imbibing of alcohol.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48RUTH CHUCKLES
0:24:48 > 0:24:50And actually, for that reason,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53there are, in fact, only ten left in the world.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55The puritans went around destroying them,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59saying that they were bringing down society.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01"Not the true spirit of Christmas," as people would still say.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Despite the protests, the Christmas card industry boomed.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08By 1877, in Britain,
0:25:08 > 0:25:114.5 million were sent every year.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Christmas shopping also boomed in the Victorian age.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Rather than being for necessity, it became a leisure activity.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Ooh, look at these pans!
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Peter and Ruth have come to Blists Hill Victorian Town in Coalbrookdale,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39for some last minute presents.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47This is the age of the beginning of the department store.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Some of them that started in the Victorian period are still with us.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54Things like Liberty, Selfridges, Marks & Spencer.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59This is when they begin with this great explosion of commercial goods.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04A speaking picture book.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06SHE GASPS
0:26:07 > 0:26:12These sorts of really, really beautiful Victorian toys were...
0:26:12 > 0:26:15popping up all over the place at this time in history.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21There was a great explosion in the amount of toys commercially available to the Victorian purchaser.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23But only the Victorian purchaser with money.
0:26:23 > 0:26:29Quite a bit of money. These sorts of things were really quite expensive. Upper middle-class toys.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34Nobody working on a farm could possibly afford to buy these for their children.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38This is real nose pressed against the glass thing.
0:26:41 > 0:26:47While Ruth window shops, Peter heads to the town's foundry to buy more fuel for the forge.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Here, three centuries ago,
0:26:52 > 0:26:57the extraction of iron from its ore using coke rather than charcoal was perfected.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05This new efficient method meant iron could be produced cheaply on a huge scale.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Cast iron was the plastic of the age,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11kick-starting the industrial revolution.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16John Challon runs the Blists Hill furnace, that still operates today.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20- What can I do for you? - Er, I'm looking for coke, actually.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25- You're looking at what I've got, aren't you?- Excuse my ignorance - what exactly is coke?
0:27:25 > 0:27:27It's basically roasted coal.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29So you get your coal,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and what you're doing is driving off all the unpleasant bits -
0:27:32 > 0:27:34all the oily stuff and the tars and everything -
0:27:34 > 0:27:38and you're left with almost what is pure carbon.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Coke had the advantage of burning hotter than normal coal.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Quite boring-looking stuff but it hasn't half had an impact.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48This is almost the start of our carbon footprint as we...
0:27:48 > 0:27:53- It's the birth of the Industrial Revolution, and of the problems we have now.- It is.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56It's one of them paradoxes cos if you hadn't have done it,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00there wouldn't be the volumes of iron around to build your railways,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03bring the world closer together. You know, ocean going ships.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06All that sort of thing, all needed vast quantities of iron,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09which you wouldn't have got by literally growing your fuel on trees.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20The iron of the Industrial Revolution connected Britain's towns with railways,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23giving us a far-reaching postal system.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27- Good morning.- Good morning.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29I'd like to send some Christmas cards, please.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34- I wondered what sort of stamps I'll need.- Well, the Christmas card rate will be a ha'penny per card.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36- Oh, that's not too bad, is it? - How many have you got?
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Dave Gavall of the Blists Hill Post Office
0:28:39 > 0:28:45believes this is the reason why Christmas card sales soared in the Victorian age.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48- One, two...- It's really quite cheap, isn't it?- ..three, four, five.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Yes, it is cheap because in 1870 the new postal rate was introduced,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56which meant you could send Christmas cards for the price of a postcard, which was a ha'penny.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59Prior to that, it would have been costing you a penny.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02- Absolute boom in the amount of Christmas cards.- And at this rate,
0:29:02 > 0:29:07it really is something that every working class person was in a position to afford, isn't it?
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Makes being able to communicate over long distances, really in the reach of everybody.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15And when you think of the world being made smaller by mass communications,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18this is where it starts, isn't it? With the Post Office.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23- This is the first great leap of making the world all interconnected. - Oh, yes, it was so very important.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26- Well, thanks ever so much. - Thank you for your business, madam.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29- Thank you. Merry Christmas. - Merry Christmas to you, too.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Take me home, Ruth.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50How's it going?
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Very well, Peter. Very well.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54It's getting complicated. More coke.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58- More coke.- Excellent, we'll need that.- Got a quarter ton.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05Shop-bought presents were too expensive for Victorian farm workers
0:30:05 > 0:30:08to afford, so Alex and Peter have had an idea.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12We've constructed this forge and we want to do something with it, so we thought
0:30:12 > 0:30:16what would be better than giving the Actons a Christmas present from our
0:30:16 > 0:30:19very forge, so we're going to make them a door knocker.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23OK. And go!
0:30:28 > 0:30:32You just have the nice gentle relaxing strokes of the bellows,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36and the sound of the fire, and it comes out and it's like furious.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40Hammer and tongs, and then in it goes again and you can just relax for a little bit.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43That's the origin of the expression, going at it hammer and tongs.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Yes. Yes. Bang, bang, bang.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50- OK, quick, quick. - So, I suppose it's quite easy to
0:30:50 > 0:30:53think of a blacksmith as a guy who just smacks metal,
0:30:53 > 0:30:58but it's quite hard to really picture the real versatile kind of,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00range of jobs he would have done.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Blacksmithing was the king of all crafts.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Once the village had its blacksmith, then the carpenters could have
0:31:06 > 0:31:12metal tools to cut the wood with, there could be implements for the fires, implements for the houses,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16everything made, and the blacksmith was the man who did it.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19So he really was the leader of the pack.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22I think somebody mentioned pulling out teeth.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Well, he was the man that would have the tongs.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31I don't think I'd like this blacksmith going at my teeth.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35- How's it looking, Peter? - Looking good. Are we ready?
0:31:40 > 0:31:46Next, the critical moment - joining together the two main parts.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Peter's got just one chance to get it right.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52- In like that?- Get it in. Shove it in.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54OK, start snapping it. Bending it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Keep it in, keep it in.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Don't let it pop out. That's it.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Now, hit it. Oh! Right, wait, wait.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08Oh, no.
0:32:08 > 0:32:09Have you got it?
0:32:09 > 0:32:11- Yeah.- Just drop it in.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Drama.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Drama in the forge.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27For centuries, homes at Christmas were decorated simply with greenery like holly and ivy.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32The Victorians changed all that with brightly coloured decorations.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37Debbie Banford's come to show Ruth how the Victorians created brilliant colours.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Not from chemicals, but from nature.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45So we're going to start off doing the yellow,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48which is this plant here.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52- Nice weld plant.- Right.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Now this plant has actually been used for putting yellow colour into
0:32:56 > 0:33:00textiles for at least 3,000 years.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Oh, good grief! So it's quite well tried and tested then?
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- Yes, we think it'll work.- So what do I do with it, just chop it up?
0:33:06 > 0:33:11You just literally use stem, flowers, leaves, the whole lot.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Except the roots.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15OK, so we've got loads of weld.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18Tie it up in a bag.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21So what we need to do with this bag now is put it into some hot water.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23- OK, so bag just goes in there. - Bag just goes in there.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28Now we have a crucial element that really needs to go in with the weld.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30And that's this one here.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Hold your nose.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36- This is...stale urine.- Oh, lovely(!)
0:33:36 > 0:33:38So are you ready to hold your nose?
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Urine is essential to fix the colour to the fabric.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Oh, blinking heck!
0:33:45 > 0:33:46RUTH COUGHS
0:33:46 > 0:33:50- Straight at the back of the throat. - That really is.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52Time for the ribbons to go into dye.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56One of those and one of those and then, yeah, put another couple in.
0:33:56 > 0:34:03- It needs to be on the heat now for a good three quarters of an hour and then we can do another colour.- Ooh!
0:34:03 > 0:34:07For the red, there's something more exotic from South America.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09- So these are... - They're the cochineal beetles.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can see they're little tiny insects.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15Mini little woodlicey things.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20Well, effectively that's what they are. They just kind of live on the trees, on the cactus.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22And that's what cochineal is?
0:34:22 > 0:34:26It's the female beetle.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Beat your beetles to a paste.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Or powder.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34The dead beetles must be ground up to release their colour.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39- Cochineal is what's used for the British Army redcoats.- Oh, is it?
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Yes, that's how we get our nice, shiny red.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44The thin red line is all about dead beetles.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46It's all about dead beetles.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Oh, it's quite red already, look.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54- So just in there?- Yeah, just tip it in there.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58- Right, you can put some ribbons in. - I like this bit.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Finally, blue.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06It's from an Indian plant called Indigofera.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11And it comes in in lump form and we crush it up
0:35:11 > 0:35:16and mix it with stale urine, and let it ferment nicely for a while.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Everything is with stale urine.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22It's a crucial commodity.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Leave it out in the air and see it turn blue.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- This is going to change colour? - It will change colour.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41If you keep watching it, can you see? You keep watching.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Oh, oh yes, it is!
0:35:43 > 0:35:47It's more turquoise now. It was definitely green before. You had me worried.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54- We just leave it out.- And then that's it. We leave it out in the air. Yep.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56So just drop it over me clothes airer.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09Compressing a four-year blacksmith apprenticeship into an afternoon
0:36:09 > 0:36:12is proving a challenge for Alex and Peter.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18It's not going brilliantly. It is slaving over a very, very hot fire.
0:36:18 > 0:36:24You do get burnt on a regular basis. My hand wasn't used to a hammer,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27so I've managed to give myself two giant blisters on my hand.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33Peter must bend the rod of iron into a perfect circle to form a knocker.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35A bit more bend there.
0:36:35 > 0:36:41It's a pretty misshapen old bit of kit there. Get it really hot.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43In theory, you get it so hot
0:36:43 > 0:36:45you can almost do it with your bare hands.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48There is a good reason for not doing it with your bare hands.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52- Use a hammer instead. - But virtually the sort of consistency of Plasticine.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55- It would almost be soft enough, yes. Don't spoil it!- OK.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Now the moment of truth. Time to assemble the knocker.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Now this is going to be the real test now, this one.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06This is the difficult bit, that's why I'm not doing it.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08I have full trust in our man.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12- Baptism of fire. Why not. - Just whip that out.
0:37:12 > 0:37:13That's fine.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16There we are. OK.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23That's it. That's it. That's it. OK, let's turn it up now,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27onto that side and start encouraging that thing to go through.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Is that going through? Yes.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Tense moments here.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43It has a certain charming asymmetry,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46which I can't quite put my finger on.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52Short of taking it apart, there is very little we can do about it.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57It is a Christmas present. They'll probably have had sherry.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00I reckon that'll look pretty straight to them on the day.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02HE LAUGHS
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The yellow and red ribbons have been boiling in the dye for an hour.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13It's not too hot? You all right?
0:38:13 > 0:38:16It's time to see if the process has worked.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20- OK.- Oh, that is yellow, isn't it?
0:38:20 > 0:38:23And think that comes out of a plant, just pure and straight.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26I know, and a plant that's actually a weed.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29We just chop it down and throw it away normally.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32I think the cochineal actually smells more.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34That looks strong.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Oh, good grief!
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Oh, good grief.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46That's quite a colour, isn't it?
0:38:46 > 0:38:49That's the colour of Christmas, that is.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58It's the day before the feast.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03The farmers are busy with last minute preparations.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07The presents are wrapped using Ruth's coloured ribbons.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14And the cooking is well in hand.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17There we go.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20So we'll just slam these in here for about half an hour.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Tomorrow's feast will take place here in the village hall.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40The Victorians would put their decorations up
0:39:40 > 0:39:44as late as Christmas Eve, not weeks in advance like today.
0:39:51 > 0:39:57Alex's Christmas tree is in place and Peter's decorating it with sweets and candles.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03Big tree. Big decorations.
0:40:03 > 0:40:09I think we're going to struggle to get a star on top of this, although Alex has volunteered.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18So all of these Christmas decorations that we've been making, of the way to
0:40:18 > 0:40:22make them, the instructions have all come out of magazines of the period.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Christmas issues usually.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Which give advice on how to make your home beautiful at this time of year.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34I'm melting a load of sealing wax,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36because we're going to make our own holly berries.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39If we haven't got quite enough, this is recommended
0:40:39 > 0:40:43in Castle's Household Guide as how to make your own artificial holly berries.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46You melt a load of nice bright red sealing wax.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48And then you...
0:40:48 > 0:40:50cover peas in them.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Come on, get covered,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55my little holly berries.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57This is really quite a towny thing to do.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00I mean out here in the countryside
0:41:00 > 0:41:03it's relatively easy to get fresh holly berries,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07but if you lived in the town, full of coal smoke,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11it was pretty hard to get greenery and seasonal colour to decorate
0:41:11 > 0:41:14the house, so people made artificial ones.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18I'm going to stick a wire in, so that we can attach them
0:41:18 > 0:41:22to whatever it is we want our holly berries on.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24One little teeny holly berry.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32I've chosen to do a Christmas motto and essentially it's a kind of
0:41:32 > 0:41:36friendly Christmas greeting for when people enter the hall.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38It's got to be in a prominent position
0:41:38 > 0:41:43and I've meticulously cut all this out and using the good old
0:41:43 > 0:41:47flour and water to make myself a paste to stick on the letters.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52Now, all I now have to do is to make sure they're nice and straight.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58The recommendation for this motto is to decorate each individual letter
0:41:58 > 0:42:03with pieces of rice, so that the letters are entirely covered by rice.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07But anyone who has got that much time on their hands
0:42:07 > 0:42:11clearly isn't a farmer.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15I'm following another Victorian trick for decorating
0:42:15 > 0:42:19and that's, I suppose it's a bit like glitter.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21I'm gluing ground or...
0:42:21 > 0:42:27crushed glass on the edges of my leaves and things to imitate snow.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Look at that. All glittery.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33I think this one is the prettiest though. I like this one.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38It is isn't it? It looks like something you'd get out of a modern retail shop wouldn't it?
0:42:38 > 0:42:41In a special tacky sort of way.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Yes, and of course we have the Victorians to blame for tackiness.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Not being renowned for their taste.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51And there we are. "A Christmas welcome to you."
0:42:51 > 0:42:54- Oh, no, I've glued it to the table. - You've glued it!
0:43:10 > 0:43:15The big day has finally arrived. But even at Christmas,
0:43:15 > 0:43:19the Victorian farmer was up at the crack of dawn to tend to his animals.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29To feed Clumper, they're using the hay harvested back in July.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31Right. Shall we get all that hay down?
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Yes, let's get some of that well-earned hay down.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41It fills me with great pride to be able to feed him
0:43:41 > 0:43:45some of our very own hay.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50It's one of those sort special moments on the farm really.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55- Is that enough then, Peter? - That's plenty, Alex.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58That's definitely a double ration for Christmas.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Yes. Merry Christmas, Clumper. You've certainly earned it.
0:44:04 > 0:44:10Merry Christmas. Get out the way. Right.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Get stuck in. There is a Christmas tradition that you always give
0:44:16 > 0:44:20a double ration on Christmas Day and this isn't
0:44:20 > 0:44:22really down to generosity at all.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26It's just so that when it comes to Christmas evening
0:44:26 > 0:44:30and you've had too much to drink, you don't have to worry about going out and feeding the animals.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33So that's their Christmas ration for the day.
0:44:37 > 0:44:38Come on then.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Chick, chick, chick, chick, chick.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Spread some grain out on the floor so that they're going to spend their day
0:44:45 > 0:44:47pecking happily.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49This is traditionally a day as well
0:44:49 > 0:44:55in which perhaps even if you only do it the one day of the year you actually feed the wild birds, too.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59People just felt it was the time for goodwill to all Gods' creatures.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04So sparrows and blackbirds were fed when perhaps the rest of the year
0:45:04 > 0:45:09the only time they'd be fed was if you were trying to catch them to eat them.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11- Hello, Princess.- Hello, Princess.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26One of Britain's leading experts in folklore, Professor Ronald Hotton,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29has come to the farm to celebrate Christmas.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34# Here's to health and to snowdrop And to her great horn... #
0:45:34 > 0:45:37He's joining the people of Acton Scott in the stables
0:45:37 > 0:45:41for an ancient tradition.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44All over Europe from the beginning of time, people have blessed their
0:45:44 > 0:45:48homes and their farms at midwinter to bring them luck for the coming year.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52# Drink unto thee, drink unto thee
0:45:52 > 0:45:57# With a waltz and a bowl We'll drink unto thee... #
0:45:57 > 0:46:01And the southern English way of doing this is called wassailing.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04And it simply means singing to and drinking to your farm produce.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08So if you're a fruit grower, you sing to your apple trees.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11If you're a cereal farmer, you sing to your cornfields
0:46:11 > 0:46:14and if you raise livestock, you sing to them.
0:46:14 > 0:46:21# Drink unto thee, drink unto thee With a waltz and bowl
0:46:21 > 0:46:27# We'll drink unto thee Drink unto thee, drink unto thee
0:46:27 > 0:46:32# With a waltz and a bowl We'll drink unto thee. #
0:46:32 > 0:46:35Before the Christmas feast,
0:46:35 > 0:46:40Alex, Peter and Ruth have been invited to Acton Scott Hall
0:46:40 > 0:46:43for drinks with the Acton family as thanks for their work on the estate.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Let's hope they've got a fire going in there.
0:46:50 > 0:46:51Come on in and welcome.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54- Hello, Mr Acton.- Hello, Mr Acton. - Merry Christmas to you.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57- Merry Christmas. - Merry Christmas, Mr Acton.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00- Merry Christmas. - Merry Christmas, Mr Acton.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Hello, how are you?
0:47:05 > 0:47:10It's a rare opportunity for the Victorian farmers to see the inside of the big house.
0:47:10 > 0:47:16Here the Acton children are playing with the very finest toys of the age.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24This ingenious book of animal noises dates from the 1850s.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29Right, this is how this book works.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32"In order to produce the sound gently pull out the cord."
0:47:32 > 0:47:33BOOK MOOS
0:47:33 > 0:47:34And again.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37BOOK MOOS
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Pretty lifelike, I think.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43But these sort of elaborate gifts were only for the privileged few.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48For most ordinary Victorian children, of course, it was whatever your mum and dad could make for
0:47:48 > 0:47:51you out of scraps of nothing in any spare moment they had.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55So, you know, for most children they were, as they had been for centuries,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58toys were just whatever you could find at hand
0:47:58 > 0:48:00and whatever you could make.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04As the Victorian age progressed, presents went from being just
0:48:04 > 0:48:07for children to being for the whole family.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Well, first and foremost...
0:48:09 > 0:48:12we have a big thank you present to the Actons,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15and whilst Ruth can lay claim to the ribbon,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19and myself to the wrapping paper, it's Peter's handiwork. So...
0:48:19 > 0:48:24It was our handiwork until it started going slightly wrong and now it's my handiwork.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27I've firmly shifted the blame on Peter.
0:48:27 > 0:48:33- Mr Acton, if I could pass that to you.- Thank you very much.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35What can it be?
0:48:35 > 0:48:37It's very heavy.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44That I think is a doorknocker, am I right?
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Yes.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49- The fact that you have to guess... - Thank you very much.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Yes, I think it'll be quite appropriately decorative.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Happy Christmas, Mr Acton.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01So it's...it's obviously not a book this year, then?
0:49:01 > 0:49:05The farmers exchange their own home-made presents.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Something metal. Something long.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Oh, it's a fire poker.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Hey, that's really handy. SHE LAUGHS
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Thank you.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22Outwitted by a piece of paper.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29- Ooh!- Wow! Cricket whites. - Cricket whites.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32It's a set of woolly underwear, boys.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34- Oh, lovely.- Shall we try them on?
0:49:34 > 0:49:36I think later, Peter.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- It's just a little token. - Oh, thank you.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42And this ribbon, gosh, what a colour!
0:49:42 > 0:49:47That's weld. We did a bit of dyeing and that just made the most amazingly zingy colours.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50You don't want to hear this. It's made with stale urine.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54- Mmm, lovely(!)- I did rinse it. I promise. I washed it out properly.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56- Thank you. Is it safe to touch? - It's fine.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58- Oh, how lovely. - Little lavender bag, yes.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Gorgeous, thank you. Do you want to smell that?
0:50:01 > 0:50:03Thank you very much.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07Well, this is one of Christmas' more ancient traditions, this is
0:50:07 > 0:50:10the Yule log and the idea is to get a log big enough,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13so that it will burn for the full 12 days of Christmas.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17Then, at the end of the 12 days, you take a small part of that wood,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19you keep it back and reuse it for next year,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22so that you get good luck throughout the year.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25I thought you might like to hear a little piano music.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30As I can't play the piano very well, I've got an invention here
0:50:30 > 0:50:34made in America, in the second half of the 19th century,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37which will play the piano for me.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Providing I work hard on a pair of pedals.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45MUSIC: "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" by Tchaikovsky
0:51:01 > 0:51:04I've got a small present for you all.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08My great-grandmother wrote in her diary in 1883 that she
0:51:08 > 0:51:13took all the children oranges, so I've got some oranges for you here now.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Sophie, would you like one?
0:51:16 > 0:51:22- Yes, and providing some well-earned vitamin C, I think...- Thank you very much.- ..for the farm labourers.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24I suppose it would have been quite an exotic fruit.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26It's hard to think of it as a special thing these days.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29We're all so used to oranges,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33but I expect many Victorian people saw one a year.
0:51:33 > 0:51:34Delicious.
0:51:38 > 0:51:39Mine's wrapped in wee-wee ribbon.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Yes, you appear to have drawn the short straw there, Peter.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Next, they head to the estate's church.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Here they're joined by the people of Acton Scott for a carol service...
0:51:54 > 0:51:56with a difference.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58CHORAL SINGING
0:52:08 > 0:52:10John Kirkpatrick and his band
0:52:10 > 0:52:16are performing carols with familiar words but unfamiliar tunes.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29In a poorer parish, you'd just have the village band who'd play for the village dance on Saturday night,
0:52:29 > 0:52:34and then they'd come to church Sunday morning and play for the hymns and psalms, and anthems.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Often very much the worse for wear from Saturday night.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42And they got slung out because they were too unruly and drunken.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46The church took action and banished these unruly bands,
0:52:46 > 0:52:51replacing them with organs playing the standardised music we know today.
0:52:51 > 0:52:57A different repertoire was introduced that the organist would play
0:52:57 > 0:53:00in a very well behaved way, and some of these old carols
0:53:00 > 0:53:06with the old band arrangements were lost, so it's nice to renew these with this ensemble today.
0:53:06 > 0:53:13This is the first time these old tunes have been played here for over 150 years.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17THEY ALL SING
0:54:06 > 0:54:11Finally, after weeks of preparation, it's time for the feast.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16At the village hall, Mr Acton and his sons, Francis and Rupert, greet their tenants.
0:54:16 > 0:54:22What you're seeing here is the Victorian version of something thousands of years old.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27The lord of the manor, the owner of the land, feasting his tenants at Christmas.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31The ancient Romans did this.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36It happened all through the Middle Ages and this is the very last generation which its going to happen.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38Merry Christmas.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43And what's more, the charity goes beyond this table because
0:54:43 > 0:54:47the really poor people get presents in their houses of food or money at
0:54:47 > 0:54:51this time, but only the respectable actually get to eat with the lord.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01Welcome friends and neighbours, to this Christmas dinner.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03THEY CHEER
0:55:09 > 0:55:13It's actually quite, "Do you like me?"
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Now think before you answer.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20They've come out quite nice, haven't they, these crackers? I think they're quite fun.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23The culmination of weeks of work
0:55:23 > 0:55:27finally arrives with the serving of the food.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30That is beautifully decorated. It really is.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33The centrepiece is the Christmas pie.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36There's like a chicken and a duck and the breasts of a partridge
0:55:36 > 0:55:39and the breasts of a pigeon all forced in really, really tight.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41So it's solid meat in there.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Let's get stuck in.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47That's way too posh pie for the likes of you.
0:55:47 > 0:55:48It looks very good, Ruth.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52- It is wonderful.- Delicious.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55The Christmas turkey and all its trimmings
0:55:55 > 0:55:59also originated in the Victorian era, replacing goose.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04- Delicious. - Yes, very well cooked, too.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11If anybody worries about eating and drinking too much at Christmas,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14it's THE essential Christmas experience.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17Religions and customs may come and go,
0:56:17 > 0:56:23but THE midwinter tradition is a party involving food and drink.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27It's the great way since pre-history to avoid dying of depression at midwinter.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31One time of the year where you could be sure of
0:56:31 > 0:56:35being given the means of staying alive by those around you.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37Bring in the pudding.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:44 > 0:56:46The leaning pudding.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52I'm really pleased. They turned out so nice.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54They look really good on the table, don't they?
0:56:54 > 0:56:56- They do. Ooh, look how moist. - Well done, Ruth.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58I hope it tastes all right.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Friends, can I ask you to stand up for a toast to our Queen?
0:57:15 > 0:57:18- Queen Victoria.- ALL: Queen Victoria! - The Queen.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23So, another chance to be Victorian farmers.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Another chance to be Victorian farmers and what fun we've had this time around.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30- We have. Yes.- So here's to hard-working Victorian farmers.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33- Hard-working Victorian farmers. Absolutely.- Cheers.
0:57:33 > 0:57:34Wherever they may be.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39Dear friends, another toast.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44There's a toast to them as we love.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47And a toast to them as loves us.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52And here's to them who loves them, who loves those, who loves those, who loves them that loves us.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55A toast!
0:57:57 > 0:57:59CHEERING
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Inject some Victorian magic into your Christmas as Alex, Peter
0:58:08 > 0:58:13and Ruth show you how to make gifts, food, decorations and more.
0:58:16 > 0:58:17Go to -
0:58:28 > 0:58:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:30 > 0:58:32E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk