Tales from the Green Valley

Reality series in which archaeologists and historians reconstruct a 17th-century farm and maintain it for a year. Each episode follows a month's progress, as the experts attempt to grow crops and raise livestock using only methods in common practice during the reign of James I. In the first episode, a team of oxen are used to plough the field and the team try to bake bread

The pressure of 17th-century living mounts as the farmers race to harvest a crop of pears, and try to build a shelter for the livestock before the weather worsens. A thatcher builds a roof for the cowshed using bracken, and the team drive the pigs into the woods to fatten them up on seeds and nuts. They then reward themselves for their hard work by cooking a traditional meal of spit-roasted mutton

Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn make a wattle-and-daub wall for the cowshed, and a slaughterman arrives to kill the male pot-bellied pig. In accordance with 17th-century customs, the women in the group face the task of butchering the carcass - and the team use every part of the animal to create a range of traditional dishes, including hogs' liver pudding and pork sausages