Winterproofing; stocking up on animal feed; building a pigsty; learning to drive a shire horse.

The farm needs emergency repairs as the new year arrives and help is needed from the woodsman, blacksmith and basket maker; Ruth makes traditional potions.

Alex and Peter master animal midwifery; a lame horse jeopardizes farm work; the team works to save its crops.

The team takes a steam train trip; Ruth makes cheese; Alex tries beekeeping.

The team harvests the wheat crop; Alex and Peter deal with the reaper binder; Harvest Festival celebration.

Ruth, Alex, and Peter return to the Acton Scott estate in Shropshire to celebrate a traditional Victorian Christmas. However there’s an enormous amount of farm work to be done on the estate in the lead up to the festive season. First the hay harvest, then Peter travels to the Royal Agricultural Society’s Annual Show to choose a new ram for the flock. Ruth prepares mincemeat for Christmas pies.

To restore the village blacksmith’s forge, the team must make bricks for the chimney, a process that takes 5 days and sleepless nights. As Christmas nears, they source a yule log: firewood to burn for the 12 days of Christmas. It’s also a chance to begin preparations for the Christmas banquet in earnest—in particular, a very Victorian invention: Christmas crackers.

Ruth makes a Christmas pudding using the same methods as Bob Cratchit’s wife in “A Christmas Carol.” Alex goes in search of a Christmas tree for the banquet, while Ruth and Peter head for the Victorian town of Blists Hill for Christmas shopping. Finally, it’s time for the Christmas meal, with a rapturous toast to Queen Victoria and a quick trip to the cattle shed to wassail the animals.