November 12, 2005

Fleeced

A living-history show on the British Broadcasting Corp. had participants living like 17th-century farmers.

Sitting here in a cool house in a synthetic fleece sweater, I read this, one of several bits of wisdom that the time-travelers learned:

Dress for practicalities. Today fashion and social convention dictate our wardrobes. While polar fleeces and high-performance tramping boots may be all the rage when going rural, the wardrobe of 400 years ago proved more comfortable. "While the crew shivered in their modern garb, we never felt the cold in just two layers - a linen shirt and woollen doublet," says archaeologist Alex Langlands. Breeches meant no wet and muddy trouser legs, and staying covered up - rather than stripping off in the heat - prevented bites, stings, sunburn and scratches.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm Peter Sommer the Producer/Director of the series, Tales from the Green Valley. A friend pointed out this post on your marvellous blog, so I thought I'd say hello.

There's a DVD of the series that has recently been released and which is available from my website - Tales from the Green Valley

Thought you might also be interested to read a couple of articles I've written about the series which you can find via the webpage above.

If you have any questions do get in touch.

Best wishes,

Peter Sommer
info@petersommer.com
Peter Sommer Travels