Sometimes you just want to watch something like The Great British Bakeoff and not a full-blown costume drama, but you’re still in the mood for something costumey (and you have to write a post about it or else Trystan will beat you), so what do you do? You turn to a show like Secrets of the Castle (2014) which manages to scratch both the itch for edutainment and something with really good history content. We have covered documentaries before, so this isn’t really veering too far off brand for this blog, but usually we are calling out docus with egregious costuming and not celebrating it.
Hosted by Peter Ginn, Ruth Goodman, and Tom Pinfold, this series delves into the creation of a 13th-century castle from the perspective of the people living and working on the site (filmed on location at Château de Guédelon in Burgundy, a living history experiment in medieval construction methods that is still ongoing).
This is a show that is sure to delight anyone who wants to get very nerdy about limewash and stonemasonry, but the real delight is watching Ruth Goodman enthusiastically tackle the cooking and sewing projects that arise in each episode. Honestly, I could watch her nerd out about wool batting and spit roasting forever.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth very briefly some years back, so I’ve already been well aware of her cred when it comes to costuming. Her outfit may not look like much, but it’s accurate down to the stitch.
Peter and Tom, who are put to work on the castle building, wear mostly historically accurate outfits, but often you will notice that they (and other craftsmen) are wearing modern shoes and other kinds of protective gear. Makes sense when you’re shlepping hundreds of pounds of stone through dirt and mud and hoisting them into place with medieval technology!
The story of the castle unfolds over the course of four 1-hour long episodes, so that by the final episode, you see aspects of life from within the (painted) castle walls. And Ruth is always impeccably dressed with her hair done up in a fillet and barbette, whether she’s making rushes to line the floors of a simple workman’s cottage or embroidering a panel in the lady of the castle’s quarters. The discussion of how pigments and dyes are made from what was readily available in the surrounding area is also interesting to anyone who spends a lot of time wondering how they get those colors.
Ruth, Tom, and Peter all turn up again in other related series, along with new friends, in the BBC’s historic farm series, covering the Tudor era to the Victorian period, so this is will likely come up again on this blog at some point. I love documentaries, especially ones that tell me about how things were done in the past, and so I’m really looking forward to binging all of it.
Have you watched Secrets of the Castle (2014)? Tell us about it in the comments!
You will love the part of Victorian Farm documentay, where Ruth has to make a new dress for an event😊
Check out “Tales from the Green Valley”, it has the same cast and is set in a Welsh farm in the 1620’s. Ruth sorts out the corset of a young saddler, (Chloe Spencer) who was really uncomfortable and ready to ditch it. With a few adjustments, she was happy and ready to do a full day on the farm………….corsets work!
Hero!
I’ve been a Ruth Goodman fan for years. I’ll watch pretty much anything if she’s involved.
She’s written some excellent books too. One about the shift from wood to coal as a fuel in Early modern England was a real eye-opener!
I’m reading her book on Tudor England right now and I read the one on coal last year. She is great! I’m going to have to watch these shows!
I love that book!
I’ve binged everything those three have done. Adore them. Ruth is a wonder, and Peter is not afraid to look stupid when he tries his hand at something, bless. Also that’s Ruth’s daughter iirc; she hauls her into an episode every once in a while.
The young friend in the embroidery picture is Ruth’s daughter, she been in some of the other series with her
You’re right! I had to stop watching before we got to the last episode so I could write this post so I’m just now catching up on the final ep!
I was going to say, that friend is the spit and image of Ruth.
This sounds fascinating! Thanks for reviewing it. I have watched at least part of Tales of the Green Valley, so I’m definitely going to find and watch this.
OMG! No, I never watched Secrets of the Castle. Never heard of it until now. And now, I must watch it! All I could think of while reading this post was the early 2000s movie, Timeline. That turned into a double treat because I just read your hilarious post about that movie. Now, I can’t wait to get into this doc and also more by this team; they look really fun!
Glad I’m not the only one who thought of Timeline and went back to read the FF post. :)
Great minds… :)
Oh my! I discovered this (and Tudor Monastery Farm) when I was on lockdown in the height of covid and I was simply transported.
I would watch Ruth do anything – I wish she had some sort of cooking show on PBS where she just cooks like a modern cooking show except she is making nothing but period recipes.
Also, I discovered that I had the world’s biggest crush on Peter Ginn. Those still images do him absolutely no justice.
Absolutely adore anything Ruth is in. All of the farm shows are great (I like to watch them in historical time period order). Ruth also did a Victorian pharmacy docuseries and there’s a history of British trains series that she and Alex and Peter did. I think they are in mostly modern clothing for that one but there may be an episode or two where they wear historic costume to get the full experience.
I watched all the Farm Series during the COVID lockdown. The Tudor Monastery Farm series just blew my mind, because in Tudor times, if your crops failed, or your pig ran away, you could starve to death in the winter. And the incredible riches of the clergy. No wonder Henry VIII was happy to get rid of them.
Sarah V: Check out “Tasting History” with Max Miller on YouTube. He does exactly that, making, testing, and explaining the history behind historic dishes (but not in costume). He does a decent job on getting his source material when it is possible. He also recently came out with his cookbook of the same title.
Thanks for the tip!
OMG….Tasting History is also news to me. Just popped over to that channel. What a discovery!! Thanks!! :)
We’ve watched some of Ruth Goodman’s Farm series but didn’t know about this one. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Sadly this was the end of the team’s wonderful documentaries about real life in different eras (as others mention). I loved all the Farm series as well as Tales of the Green Valley. I hope sometime the concept gets revived (even as the stars really didn’t live 24/7 in reenactments as some series implied). Personally I particularly liked Tudor Monastery Farm (even more than this one)–and it was really special to watch the Victorian Pharmacy with my pharmacist mother a few weeks before she passed away.
Mike Lowndes has done some amazing documentaries. I’m especially partial to “Going Medieval.”
This and all that Ruth Goodman does is brilliant! So much more modern history makes sense with Wartime Farm (rationing specifically); I recommend that after the Castle. This popped up on Prime and it was just the thing I needed after some stressful weeks. A twinkle from Peter’s blue eyes and all was right in the world again!
I love all of their series!