The Astonishing World Of Victorian Printing Press | Victorian Farm

In this episode, the team embarks on a trip by steam train, Ruth begins a tough task in the dairy, Alex tries his hand at beekeeping, the sheep are sheared using the latest time-saving technology, and the lengthening summer days allow Alex and Peter to try out the new Victorian sport of cricket. It is also time for the hay harvest, weather permitting.

It's time to bring in the cherry harvest with the help of their Dartmoor pony Laddy, and enjoy a cherry feast to celebrate. Historian Ruth Goodman tries her hand at salmon netting, while archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn take drastic measures to save their potato crop from being destroyed by blight. Alex goes to an Edwardian schoolroom - complete with Edwardian discipline - to recruit a traditional rural source of cheap labour: children.

The team go back to DIY basics, with the help of the woodsman, the blacksmith and the basket maker. Ruth has a go at some traditional potions and remedies. When the wheat crop comes under attack, its time for some pest control, Victorian style, as Alex and Peter join a pheasant hunt. Alex goes out catching rabbits with a team of Victorian poachers. And with spring around the corner the first baby animals are ready to be born.

The team move into a Victorian smallholding on the Acton Scott estate that has not been used in nearly half a century. Their first task is the restoration of the cottage. As incoming tenants, they help thresh the previous summer's wheat crop, their first experience of steam-powered machinery. Alex attempts to sow a wheat crop using horse-power. Ruth and Peter install a range in the cottage and take a trip to the canals to load up on coal. It's time for the apple harvest, so Alex and Peter turn their hand to making cider. Ruth explores the challenges of Victorian cooking by making preserves ready for winter and cooks her first meal on the range. And the team must learn shepherding skills the hard way as the first livestock arrive on the farm - a flock of Shropshire ewes.

Ruth's daughter, Eve, arrives on the train to spend Mothering Sunday - an important occasion in the Edwardian calendar - on the farm. For the many daughters who worked away in service, it was the only time in the year when they could get time off to return home. Alex and Peter fertilise the potato crop - which requires ten tonnes of well-rotted horse dung. They also go up to Dartmoor for the annual pony trek - a time when wild ponies on the moor were rounded up. They select a new pony for the farm.

The team must harvest their oat crop, but everything depends on the weather. Constant rain is making the job impossible. They investigate ways of forecasting the weather. When the rain finally clears, the team deploy the latest in Edwardian farming technology for the oat harvest, including a tractor that was then state-of-the art, the Moghul. And the event is captured by an Edwardian film crew, tapping into the very latest in Edwardian fads: the cinema.