A Farm Through Time: Cannon Hall Farm brothers discover what life was like for historic farmers

Channel 5’s latest Yorkshire show sees the brothers from Cannon Hall Farm look at the history of farming.
Jonathan Pritchard
By Jonathan Pritchard
Published 18th Aug 2022, 13:32 GMT

Yorkshire farmers Rob and Dave Nicholson will be going back in time in their new series, A Farm Through Times, which starts tonight (August 18).

The brothers will be joined by historian Ruth Goodman, who takes them back in time to see what life was like for farmers during World War Two, the Victorian era and the Iron Age. The Barnsley brothers will discover the innovations that revolutionised farming and see what life was like for our farming ancestors.

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They examine innovations that stopped Britain from being starved into submission during World War Two, how the introduction of Victorian machinery led to social unrest and the lost farming practices of the Iron Age.

Rob Nicholson, Dave Nicholson and Roger Nicholson planting potatoes on Cannon Hall FarmRob Nicholson, Dave Nicholson and Roger Nicholson planting potatoes on Cannon Hall Farm
Rob Nicholson, Dave Nicholson and Roger Nicholson planting potatoes on Cannon Hall Farm

In the first episode Rob and Dave go back to World War Two and visit the living history farm at Tatton Hall Park, where they discovered how Nazi Germany attempted to starve Britain by sinking our merchant ships, which supplied Britain with 80 per cent of our fruit and 50 per cent of all meat. The pair get to grips with ploughing with a Fordsen – the most popular tractor of WW2 – and their sibling rivalry comes through as they compete over who could plough the straightest farrow.

With the war taking so many men away from farms there was a shortage of agricultural workers, which is where the Women’s Land Army come in. Rob and Dave meet re-enactors who are passionate about keeping their memory alive, and explain to the brothers how they didn’t just work on farms.

The brothers stay overnight in the farmhouse but are disturbed by an air raid, and in the shelter they imagine the horrors of war endured by their grandfather. Back on their own farm, they plant potatoes using a wartime invention – the Trusty Tractor – and supplement their wartime diet by fishing in the historic Ladybower Reservoir, where the legendary “Dambusters” practised their daring bombing on the Rhur Dams in Germany. Finally, Ruth, Rob and Dave throw a party celebrating the farmers of yesteryear, who saved the nation from starvation and helped win the war.

A Farm Through Time starts tonight (August 18) at 9pm on Channel 5.

Related topics:Channel 5Yorkshire