This special Christmas edition of the Number One best-selling Victorian Farm showcases festivities and crafts unique to life on the farm. A new Christmas section shows you how to make your own home-made toffees, wax holly berries, ivy ribbons, savoury Christmas pie and festive walnuts - including original sheet music, festive storytelling and plenty of Christmas cheer.<BR><BR>Celebrating our rural heritage, Victorian Farm contains a fascinating mix of social history, folklore and practical projects. Follow historians Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn and Ruth Goodman as they spend a year on a Victorian farm.<BR><BR>In a fascinating time-travelling experiment, a team of historians spend a year recreating farm life in 1885, with no electricity, no gas, no flushing toilet and no tractor. This book accompanies the BBC television series, produced by Lion TV, which follows Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn and Ruth Goodman as they learn how to run the farm using only materials and resources that would have been available to them in the Victorian era.<BR><BR>This was a pivotal time in the history of Britain. Industrialization had radically changed life in the cities but rural communities were much slower to develop, and combined a mixture of centuries old and pioneering modern practices. Alex, Peter and Ruth explore the `old ways' and the effects of the changes on the rural community.<BR><BR>Divided into six themed chapters, plus a fantastic new feature on Christmas customs and cheer, the book reveals what Victorian country folk ate and wore, how they organized their lives, managed their animals and farmed the land. With the help of specialist advisors the team take on a wide variety of tasks, from agricultural practices, animal husbandry and ancient craft skills to Victorian leisure activities, and producing food and drink.<BR><BR>Providing a real insight into life on a Victorian farm, this book is a timely reminder of how history often comes full circle. Recycling, the organic diet, the use of natural products for cleaning and healthcare, an interest in crafts and gardening are as relevant to the environmental concerns of today as they were to daily life in the 19th century.