A Victorian Summer (2003)

Broadcast by Anglia Television in spring 2003, this three hour double video set presented by Paul Heiney takes you back to an era when farming methods revolved around the horse and the life of a village was dependent on its farms. Heiney follows three crops - oats, potatoes and grass - from sowing to harvest, re-creating the days of horse-ploughing and steam thrashing. He shows a typical farm with its cows milked by hand and its traditional breeds of sheep and pigs. He also searches the region for rural craftsmen and women who are keeping alive the old skills such as rick-thatching and wheelwrighting.