A hidden Welsh border valley provides the ideal setting for a fascinating documentative reality-experience, as a group of archaeological and history experts spend a year immersed in country life as it was 400 years ago, when King James I ruled the land. At the heart of the valley lies a remarkable farmhouse, a building that is being run just as it was in the year 1620.

Without electricity, refrigeration, mains water, tractors or chemical pesticides, our group will live off the land, eating the period food they grow and wearing the period clothing they can create. We watch and share the drama and frustration as they cope with a plethora of natural challenges – with 400 year-old manuals as their source of knowledge. Each programme focuses on the a month in the life of the farm, following the seasonal tasks our team endeavour to carry out – from harvesting and building, to the birthing of calves and pigs, from salting and smoking meat to sheep shearing and garment making. The series is genuinely revealing about life in times gone by…

DVD Extras

A 1620 farm calendar

A King James 1 biography

Picture gallery