Wartime Farm: Rediscovering The Skills And Spirit Of World War II [Hardcover]

The BBC must know they are on to a winner with this one. As I write this, the series 'Wartime Farm' hasn't even started, but the book has already been released.

The format is well known - archaeologists Peter Ginn and Alex Langlands, along with social historian Ruth Goodman recreate a period of history by living on a farm exactly as they would have done at that time for a TV series.

'Tales from the Green Valley' was a quiet success some years ago, but in recent years 'Victorian Farm' and 'Edwardian Farm' really caught the public's imagination.
Both Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm had great 'books of the programme'; this one is even better.

'Edwardian Farm' suffered slightly from poor proofreading, but here there are no such errors - at least not that I spotted. What there is, is a fascinating guide to farming and rural life in wartime. As always there are unexpected challenges for Peter, Alex and Ruth- such as ploughing by night, making tiles (roofs were frequently damaged in bombing).... and ballroom dancing for a wartime 'hop'.

With the programmes yet to be broadcast at the time of writing it's difficult to say how the book fits into the programmes. However there are eight programmes scheduled and also eight chapter headings. The Victorian & Edwardian Farm books mixed the content of some of the programmes in different chapters, whilst others - like the Christmas celebrations - were less varied.

We are taken through an outline of the 'Farm at War', with details of crops grown and the equipment used. 'Mobilising People' deals with those who worked on the land and elsewhere. As might be expected 'The Home & Garden Front' shows how a home and garden were run. The recipes in 'Wartime Food' will certainly be of interest to those who welcome the current return to fashion of 'old style' living - baking from scratch, making use of cheaper cuts of meat, and generally economising. There's a short section of recipes, with some familiar - Coconut Ice - and some not so familiar such as Baked Potato Pudding.

Livestock -hens, rabbits, pigs, cows, horses - have their own chapter, as does Home Defences, with the role of the Home Guard examined. 'Make Do and Mend' is becoming a motto for today as much as it was in wartime, although not many of us will mend laddered stockings with hair, as Ruth does.
Finally ..And Carry On covers the leisure pursuits such as the aforementioned dancing and Christmas celebrations. Wonderful.

This would be a super book of social history even without the back up of the programmes. Peter, Ruth and Alex are first class writers as well as top-class historians. It's difficult to know how it could be better.
What next? Well, Peter's potted biography in the introduction tells us that he 'has swum the Rio Grande during a flash flood, been forced up a pyramid at gunpoint ... and set fire to himself (twice)." If that isn't worth writing about, I don't know what is.
I doubt if I'll recommend a book more highly this year.

Both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed Wartime Farm so this book was a must for us both. It is a really good read and provides much more in-depth information than the series had time for. It was hard to imagine there could be anything new to learn about World War II as it has had enormous coverage on the media, endless books, television series [fiction and non fiction] etc. However there was much that was new and interesting in this series. The information on Lumber Jills was new to me [although it has recently turned up again on BBC Countryfile] and it was good to see a group of hard working women finally praised for what they achieved during the war. The chapter on Home Defences was riverting - I doubt if many people had realised that farmers were engaged in secret defence work at night as well spending their days working hard to ensure the nation was fed. I think most readers will enjoy reading the recipes although I doubt many will want to make a 'baked potato pudding'!. Ginn, Goodman and Langlands are as interesting as writers as they are engaging presenters. Highly recommended. fjs

A beautifully photographed, well detailed, hardback book.

A beautifully presented book jammed full of everything you could possibly want to know about life on the farm during the war.

You start with a fantastic meet the farmers section which then leads into the farm in my home county of Hampshire. The farm sits in he most beautiful of settings and it must have been an absolute delight living there whether through the war time years or the recreated years.

With sections on Grow your own and Make do and Mend the book just oozes photos and adverts from the past along with a section on how to make your own beehive and honey. Illustrated step by step on how to dance a perfect foxtrot when you meet your GI, recipes and how to make your own Christmas decorations.

A fantastic read for young and old. I took this book in to show a class of 11year olds and they loved it.

Perfect gift for anyone.