My Year in the 18th Century
Well, it’s been a while since I blogged, but browsing through the Guardian today I found a review of a book by Fiona J Houston that cried out for a mention. The Garden Cottage Diaries: My Year in the Eighteenth Century finds the author (a Scottish museum researcher) abandoning modern life to live as her ancestors would in a 1790s cottage at the bottom of her garden. This involved wearing home-made wool clothes, collecting wood and growing her own food. As if times aren’t hard enough already!
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I live in the English cathedral city of Lichfield, which, despite having a population of fewer than 5,000 during the Georgian period, was home to many important artists and intellectuals including Samuel Johnson, David Garrick and Erasmus Darwin. I generally blog about the short 18th century (1715-1789), feisty Georgian ladies and Lichfield’s 18th-century heritage. If you have any comments, feel free to email me at woffington [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also
Ooo good find!
Apparently the book includes lots of great photos of her cottage and vegetable garden too.
Ah, such a thing in book form, for the non-lazy! What I mean in English is that reminds me of those reality TV shoes, like 1900 House and particularly like the one whose name has slipped my mind, where they were trying to recreate Plymouth Colony. I bet a journal would be much more detailed and less sensational!
Ha, I meant TV shows!
Yes, we used to have one in the UK called Regency House Party that I loved. Not so much a serious analysis of history but a gameshow pairing off singletons – a kind of Big Brother crossed with a Jane Austen novel!
I LOVED those shows! Especially Estate House, where there were both servants and a family. I wish they would bring that series back!
Me too! I see Regency House Party website is still up though: (http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/R/regencyhouse/) Turns out that one of them even worked for the same company as me; don’t think she paired off with any of the handsome Regency bucks, however.
That looks amazing! I will be crossing my fingers that it will make it over stateside.
Oh fantastic, I shall have to investigate!