Snowdonia 1890
BBC Wales
Snowdonia Farmhouseis a landmark living history project for BBC Wales. Two 21st century families will be transported back to the primitive existence of 1890 Snowdonia hillside farmers. Living in neighbouring farm cottages, separated by a network of fields, they will face a battle for survival against a backdrop of barren mountainous terrain. This poor arable land in Wales’s wettest region was used for cattle grazing and growing basic crops such as oats, root vegetables and potatoes. Small in size, the vast network of 3-4 acre farms were in the main rented – the landlords, English gentry who controlled North Wales and the lives of their tenants. Most families were unable to survive on the land alone and were forced into industry. The surrounding slate mines provided a vital additional income on which this close knit community thrived. Living hand to mouth, the families will embrace the very distinctive North Wales community of agriculture and industry, working both land and slate.
Over four to five weeks of filming, spanning Winter/Spring, our families will be totally immersed in nineteenth century life. This is not ‘pretend living’; our families will be expected to genuinely deal with the realities of farm and quarry life. The quarryman cottager’s life was one of ceaseless labour, tending the rocks by day and the small fields at every other opportunity. Women also laboured hard, working the land, tending livestock and running the family home. Children assisted their mothers before and after attending school. Boys as young as 10 years old worked alongside their fathers at the quarry whilst many girls aged 12 and above became domestic servants.
Our families face a tough physical challenge and will soon become interdependent as was the custom during this time. Every aspect of life will be shared with their neighbour. Food, skills, farming techniques and tools will be exchanged openly and freely.
Snowdonia Farmhouse offers a dramatic context for the collision of social history and real life drama. This is both entertaining and informative television. Viewers will experience a time travel journey back into a previously untold period of Welsh history. Revealing and starkly different from ‘Coal House’, this is a series to break new ground