Times Past in the Countryside: Everyday Life in a Bygone Age Valerie Porter

Author Bio

al Porter is a rural historian and has written nearly 40 books, most of them on countryside subjects among them two titles in the Tales of the Countryside series, Yesterday's Farm and Words from the Countryman for David and Charles. She spent her childhood in rural Wiltshire, but now lives in Milland, West Sussex, where she's actively involved with village life and local history.

Summary

Relive the days gone by in the countryside with this nostalgic, lavishly illustrated look at life in the British countryside from the Victorian era through to the 1960s. Explore every aspect of rural life, from the practicalities of growing and rearing food, to the intense hard work required of young and old, the craftsmen, the industries and markets that buoyed the local economy, and the sports, dances and festivals that were the hard-earned recreation. Discover the reality of living in a country cottage with no mains water, electricity or heating, and learn about the social structure of these close communities now swallowed up by urban sprawl and modern comforts. Illustrated throughout with many images never seen before, "Times Past in the Countryside" provides an account not just of the rose-tinted memories, but also some of the harsh realities of country life.

• Download Jacket