The Delicate Ways Of Edwardian Lace-Making | Edwardian Farm

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 follows a flock of sheep up on to Dartmoor, where it was traditional for many shepherds to take their flocks for summer grazing. Alex and Peter get to grips with shearing, while Ruth takes the fleeces off to a wool mill to find out how it was processed and manufactured.

Six months into their year, Ruth, Alex and Peter explore the daily lives of Edwardian farmers. This episode has a slightly different format to the rest of the series; instead of covering a whole month's changes it uses a framing device of Ruth writing a letter describing the events of a single day on 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.

It is April and the fishing season has arrived - a time when Devon's 'fisherman-farmers' went to sea. Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn go to sea in an Edwardian trawler, hastily finishing repairs before setting sail. They master the singing of sea shanties as well as steering a wind-powered vessel and casting a net the old-fashioned way - but will they catch any fish? Women were considered bad luck at sea, so Ruth Goodman stays ashore. She forages on the se shore and prepares potted shrimp. She also builds a smokehouse and smokes some mackerel.

The team's year on the farm is coming to an end. First, they have to bring in the wheat harvest, the most crucial part of the Victorian Farm calendar. Ruth explores the craft of straw plaiting and discovers the art of printing. Alex and Peter try their hand at homebrew. The team brings in the wheat harvest with the help of some extra labor, and celebrates with a harvest festival.