Whilst we were filming we also made a series of 25 short films showing how to make your own Victorian Christmas. You can download all of these from the BBC website :-

www.bbc.co.uk/victorianchristmas

A Plea for Information

One of the projects I undertook was to make a ‘Charletine’ blanket. I had come across this in a book called ‘Common Sense Clothing’ written in 1863. It consisted of cotton waste sandwiched between two layers of paper and sewn together into a cheap quilt.

I did my best to make one. It was amazingly warm to sleep under although it did rustle rather.

My plea is for any information you may have about Charlatine blankets. No one I have spoken to has ever heard of them and I could find no other reference to them except in ‘Common Sense Clothing’ where they are referred to as ‘so very much now used’.

If any one has one or knows anything about them I would dearly love to hear from you.

This summer we were asked to return to our farm at Acton Scott and all three of us jumped at the chance.

Mr Acton had a whole host of jobs lined up for us culminating in providing a Christmas celebration for the estate to remember.

This time around our hay harvest went swimmingly, with hot dry days to cut and dry the hay. Clumper the horse also enjoyed the warmer dryer weather and seems completely recovered from the leg problems that he had last year.

Peter became absorbed in repairing the estate’s forge, firing bricks and laying the most amazing floor composed of brick dust, sand, lime and ox blood.

I was glad of my daughter Eve’s help in the dairy when she popped up to visit. Sometimes the workload can be a bit daunting and besides her help her company always cheers me up. This year’s butter was particularly good, reflecting the kinder weather and better grass.

As Christmas got nearer it became clear that this was going to be not only a much bigger affair than last year but a much grander affair as well. The Acton’s were a wealthy family and wanted the very best and most modern of Victorian Christmases. I found myself preparing puddings for thirty as well as scouring period magazines for the latest ideas in Christmas decorations.