1970’s British sitcom inspires gardeners: An entire village turns against supermarkets and grows its own food

“I don’t allow my cups and saucers in the front garden.”
Video clip from the British TV Show The Good Life.

The real Good Life: An entire village turns against supermarkets and grows its own food
By LUKE SALKELD
The Daily Mail 14th April 2008

“The Hampshire village is now home to hundreds of real life versions of the characters played by Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers, who lived off the land in the 1970s BBC comedy. They work on a rota system and raise their own chickens and pigs and grow potatoes, garlic, onions, chillis and green vegetables on eight acres of rented land.

Of the 164 families who live in Martin, 101 have signed up as members of Future Farms for an annual £2 fee, although the produce can be sold to anyone who wants to buy it. The “community allotment” sells 45 types of vegetables and 100 chickens a week, and is run by a committee which includes a radiologist, a computer programmer and a former probation officer.”

“It has been a fantastically interesting experience and we now have four plots of land covering eight acres. There are 164 families in the village and they include about 300 adults and 100 children, so there are about 400 creatures to feed. Every Saturday the community comes together with their produce which is sold at the village hall.

The complete newspaper article can be read here.

“The Good Life” - TV Sitcom

The Good Life is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1975 to 1978.

“On his 40th birthday to be precise, Tom Good decides that he’s had enough of the rat race and that he and wife Barbara will become self-sufficient. The pair convert their garden into a farm, get in the pigs and chickens, grow their own crops and on one memorable occasion, try to dye their own wool with nettles.

“The thirty episodes of The Good Life became household favourites, and are still enduring icons of their time.

“There are many organic gardening and self-sufficiency movements within the UK who continue to this day to claim that The Good Life was inspirational and influenced their own lifestyle changes.”

Show History

Complete episodes can be seen on-line.

Here is The Good Life - Season 01 Episode 01 - Plough Your Own Furrow

The Good Life - S01 E02 - Say Little Hen

The Good Life - S01 E03 - The Weaker Sex

The Good Life - S01 E04 - Pig’s Lib

The Good Life - S01 E05 - The Thing In The Cellar

The Good Life - S01 E06 - The Pagan Rite

The Good Life - S01 E07 - Backs To The Wall

The Good Life - S02 E01 - Just My Bill

The Good Life - S02 E02 - The Guru Of Surbiton

And there are more as well.