The Garden Cottage Diaries : My Year in the Eighteenth Century

by Fiona J. Houston

The Garden Cottage Diaries Presents the story of the author's year re-creating the lifestyle of her 1790s ancestor in a basic one-roomed cottage, eating home-grown produce and surviving on her own resources - making household items herself and dressing in period clothing. This illustrated title includes gardening info, menus, recipes and nature notes. Full description

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Gardening, Scotland, Memoir, 18th Century

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written account of living in the 1790s for a year. The writing is fluent, honest, and gets right the balance between being historical overload and historical interest. There's lots of detail for those who want it (I did) about clothing, sanitation, cooking etc. but where Houston scores is in presenting it in the context of how it felt to wear petticoats, live in two rooms, not have running water etc. Well illustrated (the little chaper headings by Clare Melinsky are enchanting) and a joy to read.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiona Houston decided to live for a year as a school teacher's wife in the late 18th century. This instantly gets my admiration as I know I wouldn't last more than a couple of days. No hot running water, no wifi, no electricity ...............no thanks.
And yet Houston lasts it out, only 'cheating' very occasionally and when she really needs to (for example visiting her first born grandchild).
Although we can never go back in time, this sort of living experiment is probably the nearest anyone will ever get to understanding how it was to live in those times.
What struck me is how long it takes to do things that nowadays we do instantly. Boiling water for tea took an age - I have an tap in my kitchen that gives me instant boiling water. And as for laundry - it could take days instead of shoving it into the washing machine and then the drier.
I think I would have struggled most of all with the dark evenings. Houston's home made candles would have stank to high Heaven and would have been to dim to read by, or sew or indeed do anything.
Well written, nicely illustrated - enjoyed it.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2005 Fiona Houlton lived a full year as if it were the late 1700s (with a few exceptions). Now, granted, her work and living circumstances put her in a position to be able to do this, that a lot of people wouldn't, but I do enjoy a random eccentric experiment, and this is an interesting month by month account of her experiences and reflections of doing so in the lowlands of Scotland.

It was interesting without being too heavy on the details. She did well although as she approached the next winter you could see her enthusiasm waning. Read this book before you get too romantic over candle light and firelight. And if you think people were tougher back then, well, they did not know any different. But reading this makes me grateful for electric lights, indoor plumbing and the saviour of womankind, the washing machine.

She started this in exasperation of the processed crap we eat and the might of the massive supermarket chains, claiming we ate better 200 years. Well, as long as you had a good harvest. And no one gets those every year. But there is certainly a point to be made on that, as well as the environmental concerns she voices... 20 years on since she did this and I really don't think we as a society have made any progress, or to be honest that the great masses have any interest in doing so either. I got the impression that she didn't walk that much before so it was wonderful to see her discovering walking and her local area, if rather naively thinking no one else did it!

Some things have gotten worse since the 1700s, and I agree with her on our wasteful consumerist society and also the seasonal veg issue. On the other hand some things are better - modern dentistry, vaccinations, health care, human rights, access to education, the enormous improvement to women's lives to name but a few... I suppose the thing is don't get complacent or lazy.

[Lisann Gurney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting and fun read - and a reminder to be extremely grateful for electric lights and indoor plumbing!

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming account, with lots of period detail, of what it's like to live as people did in 18th century Scotland. The author did this for a year and gives an interesting account of the problems of living without modern conveniences. Some recipes included.
If you ever wanted to know about baking bread in a cauldron then wrapping your sandwiches in leaves tied with nettle string to keep them fresh...Or how to prevent your home made mattress go mouldy... Or how to make oak gall ink...
Loved it!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this one slowly for a while. What an interesting project! Loved the insight!

[Denise Kruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to read whilst quarantined (Covid-19 in 2020) and trying to make do with what one has. The author challenges herself to try to live for a year as though it was 1790. She shares her experiences residing in an outbuilding on her Scottish property— the food, the clothing, the challenges, the slip-ups (very few!). Her writing is delightful and so thoughtful and thought-provoking. Here she is describing (after teaching the reader candle-making) a Halloween evening:
On Halloween, I had a friend staying. We sat at the round table in the cottage and invented our own ceremony for the evening. Starting with just a single rush light, we took it in turns to light a tea light. Beginning with our childhoods, as we lit each short candle, we recalled a significant person in our life who had died.The process was anything but thrifty but the illumination was glorious by the end of the evening. We then drank a dram and let all of the spirits that we had summoned fade. The experience had been powerful.

[Emma Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent two or three afternoons immersed in 18th century Scotland whilst reading ‘The Cottage Garden Diaries – My Year in the Eighteenth Century‘ by Fiona J. Houston.

The author begins by describing her lifelong interest in the way people used to live, in an attempt to explain why she came up with the idea of living in a historically accurate way for a year. Then she details the preparations she made, including patching up a cottage on her property as her new home. She made her own clothes, and learned how to use a tinderbox to light the range. Her model for the year was a typical 18th century schoolmaster’s wife, which would have been quite a tough life – expected to maintain high standards of dress and decency on a tiny salary.

Then we’re off into the experiment proper, and a chapter details each month through the year (1st January to 31st December 2005). There’s narrative text describing the trials and tribulations of the month, plus recipes and the occasional instruction manual on how to do things our recent ancestors would have taken for granted – like making tallow candles. There’s a list of the month’s chores, nature notes from a life spent considerably more outside than ours and occasional entries from the author’s diary, printed up in tiny handwriting which makes reading them a bit of a chore – especially when you come across a Scottish word you don’t know and have to skip to the glossary at the back to look it up.

As you might expect, there are some grinding hardships that weigh heavy on our author. Her period clothing is cumbersome; she doesn’t always have the energy to wear it. She has no transport, and walks for miles to collect milk from the village. Heating water for a wash is tricky, and she smells permanently of smoke and has ash in her hair despite her bonnet. In the winter the cottage is cold, and throughout the year she has no light in the evenings beyond her candles – which would have been a considerable household expense and husbanded very closely. A daily chore is chopping wood for the fire and the range.

Cooking is limited, but for the most part she seemed to have plenty to eat. Most months of the year her garden and the countryside contributed greatly to her diet. A certain amount of game is brought to her, and some gifts of fish and meat. But there is at least one month where she craves blackcurrants and realizes that she’s short on vitamin C. And she doesn’t only have to feed herself – she has a steady stream of guests to look after as well.

At the end of the book there are some good chapters about life after the experiment, including one where she confesses to all the slips out of the period that weren’t mentioned in the monthly chapters. Although she was somewhat cut off from the world during her year ‘away’, she had a modern life that she had to keep up with. A baby came into the world, and there was a death in the family. And she had work commitments to keep on top of. I don’t think anyone would judge her too harshly for washing her hair occasionally!

There’s also a list of all the food she had during the year, and the money she spent. It’s a very detailed account of a year spent living a different sort of life, but more than that it’s really very interesting. And it’s a very well designed book too, and would make a lovely gift for anyone interested in the 18th century or self-sufficiency.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frustrated by todays consumerism and with an interest in history the author decides to live for one year as a school teachers wife in the 18th century. How was life during that period of time? Armed with knowledge she gained through reading many books, she prepares a small cottage on her property for that experiment. How did people cook in this period? What floors did they have and how did they sleep and so on? While the author does some compromises overall she tries to experience that period as good as she can. And I got to admit, I admired her for staying strong at least most of the time. Staying in a cold cottage with not much entertainment, sleeping in an uncomfortable bed while she could just easily just walk over to her normal house, was probably not easy. There are some occasions where she broke her commitment. For example while she would walk several days to visit friends, she would take the bus home. Or she would have to go back to work for a while and would spent some time at her home office.

What I liked about the book was first of all the idea behind it and also how it was presented. There are short writings for each month, a few original phrases here and there out of her diary which she wrote at that time, lots of old recipes, some garden tips and many instructions/tips how to do certain things. For example how to do strings out of nettles or how to make a writing pen out of feathers. While I won't do any of these instructions (many are just not very practical and/or require a lot of work) I still found it interesting to know how people would make certain things. Also this books pays attention to many small things and I found that very interesting.

The only downside, I wished they would have included the baking time/temperature in the baking recipes. I understand most of these recipes are dating from this time period but I thought they could have made the extra effort to include it.

[Fran Macilvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Garden Cottage Diaries by Fiona J Houston

I seem to be reading a raft of 'improving' books at the moment, the latest of which, I have been aware of for many years, as I used to read Ms Houston's column in the 'Herald' newspaper with great enjoyment. To discover the book was therefore a great pleasure. Thanks to the friend who lent it to me, I have been able to read and savour again.

The Garden Cottage Diaries is a unique document of an attempt to live in the eighteenth century for a full year, by dint of moving into a shed/byre at Ms Houston's home, converting it to obtain a box bed and a hearth that as closely as possible, emulated the conditions at that time. The experiment brought new skills to the fore, and put all the pleasures and advances that we tend to take for granted, into a much sharper perspective.

The result is an endearingly honest and complete account, wistful and enlightening. Though enjoying many aspects of life in the old days, such as self sufficiency, learning new skills, freedom from modern obsessions and processed food, and more exercise, increasingly Ms Houston hankers after such modern luxuries as electric light, waterproof clothing and warmth....which many of us take entirely for granted.

Recommended reading.

Fran Macilvey, author, 'Trapped: My Life With Cerebral Palsy'

[Martine Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first learned about this from a column in a newspaper and being fascinated by all things eighteenth century, I sought it out. If you write about the period as I do, there are clearly going to be issues about how a contemporary person experiences the privations of an earlier period. The sheer physical hardship of living under primitive conditions (carrying your own wood for the fire, grubbing around for food) is therefore fascinating but we must assume was perceived as normal to those living in the times.
What I found fascinating were Fiona’s own researches into food (lots of oats and veg but so boring sounding it is pitiful) and domestic conditions. The sheer tedium of how to fill the long winter evenings is revealed when she writes of it being too dark to sew and therefore she took up rag-rugging which is more of a ‘feely’ pastime.
Yes, Fiona does occasionally pop her jeans on and enter the modern world and I for one can’t blame her at all. On the other hand she walks miles and miles, carries firewood on her back, learns to cook bannocks on an open fire and lives in the equivalent of a stone outhouse. Overall, simply fascinating; the detail is so fascinating it truly encourages you to write a novel set in 18th C Scotland just to make use of this bonanza of research.

[Elayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book in that it is factual about a Scottish woman who recently decided to prove her point about the Scottish diet in the 18th century being good and healthy.
she not only ate as though she was in the 18th century but lived her life - almost completely - as though she was living in the 18th century, down to toilets and clothes and cottage.
I greatly admire her for doing this but did find that the complete repetition of the layout was boring after the first few months and thus kipped the 'chores in the garden ' bits. Her drawings though are exquisite and the book is a treasure in the illustrations alone. I also found the handwriting was very difficult to read/ that said I persevered with this book and was interested to learn just how much she walked - and this was clearly not a life therefore for the faint-hearted or less than fit to live. The chores alone wuld have me back in bed in no time....
If you are interested in gardening and like history then this is the book for you. It was also local to where we were staying in the summer, which was how I picked it up - she lives in Innerleithen.

[NoBeatenPath · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well told account of an attempt to live an (near) authentic late-18th century Scottish life. The author had been complaining about the modern diet, and when challenged that she probably wouldn't want to live like Scots had in the past, took up the challenge and attempted it.
Early on in the book Houston admits that part of her reason for taking this on was to write a newspaper column and I smiled - so often this type of 'year living as a whatever' is described as being for some disingenuous reason that of course has nothing to do with a book contract or a newspaper column. So it was nice to see it admitted from the outset.
The book itself is nicely laid out, with interesting prose, lovely illustrations, and inserts of recipes and instructions on how to make items such as candles. The author is very candid throughout, admitting when she deviates from her 'authentic' life, and when she is fed up with what she is doing. The book is ended with a summary of what the author feels she has learned from her year, as well as glossaries, further reading and lists of what she ate and what it all cost.

[Grim-Anal King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fell between a few stools. Didn't seem a great feat of endurance because the author took time out to send emails, take lifts, eat food brought by folks who weren't using eighteenth century technology, etc. While the nature stuff was interesting there wasn't sufficient focus on that to justify the investment of my time. As for the gardening, there were virtually no tips on that. There were more tips on cooking, clothing and lighting, but I couldn't really have given a toss about those. It was all a bit too well-meaning Guardian columnist woolly.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman decides to live at though she is in the 18th century, and she clearly knows her stuff. Unfortunately, she cheats. All the time. Taking time off for a funeral - that I can understand. Deciding to continue using email, and wearing her blue jeans because she finds it awkward to wear her 18th century outfit in the mornings...that's just not acceptable, and there are way too many other examples of that sort of thing. She tries really hard to justify her cheating (and at least she's honest about it) but I wish this experiment had been done by someone with more resolve.

[Uli Vogel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Develop an obsession for a certain period in time, Dip into a half-hearted attempt to impersonate one of your possible ancestors. Stick to the parts that are easy to maintain. Not to mention that you're just a few steps across the yard away from present day amenities. Which you gratefully use whenever the going gets rough. Of course you refrain from drinking coffee, wearing jeans or driving a car. NOT.
Oh and don't forget to keep a diary and invite journalists to participate in your skimming the country life of early 19th century Scotland.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful book: well-written and beautifully designed. Fiona Houston spent a year living (as close as she could) like one of her 18th-century Scottish ancestors. I especially liked the monthly rundown of what her garden bore; I also appreciated her honesty about having to step out-of-century from time to time. The only thing that could have improved this book, from my point of view, would be the addition of a sample daily schedule.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun reading about this woman's efforts to truly live as an 18th century ancestor, in her own garden cottage, using actual writings from the period to garden, cook and manage her home authentically. Really interesting. Also enjoyed her personal notes about things she couldn't do or how she needed to step out of the period. Mostly she did great! I liked the book. It's also a beautifully designed book.

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating, and her final accounts for the year are really interesting. I definitely recommend it.

[Margaret Pinard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely read for odd hours, as the narrative is broken up in seasons, in garden updates, in pictures. Lots of good material to use for giving verisimilitude to some 1790s stories, too!

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, but not really enough detail for my liking.