Villages and Rural Life – Farmers and Villagers
with WITH Kim Lambert w/Arietta RichmondRegistration ends July 11, 2026!
Class Description
This class is the first in what will eventually be a series on Regency Rural Life. Based on the survey done in early 2021, and later surveys, about what bits of regency agriculture related knowledge people wanted, the lives of the farmers and villagers wasthe area that most people had the greatest interest in –so we are starting there.
The following is a summary of the types of things we will cover – this list is not exhaustive, and may change as the class dates get closer. (This course was first taught in 2022 and this iteration will likely expand a little on that.)
Farmers:
- Tenant farmers vs independent farmers
- Crop farmers vs livestock farmers (summary – each of these could be a course on its own)
- Size of farms
- The enclosure acts – common grazing land vs enclosed land and the impact of enclosure on farmers and villagers. Types of fences.
- What sort of houses did the farmers live in?
- What did they earn, and how did they earn it?
- What did they eat?
- What sort of equipment might they have?
Villagers:
- How big was a village?
- Who owned the land that the village was built on?
- Who owned the houses and other buildings?
- What sort of building would you find in a village? (Inn, mill, stables, cottages, church)
- What sort of people would you find in a village, and what did they do to earn a living? (Blacksmiths, farriers, wheelwrights, harness makers, butchers, bakers, seamstresses, shopkeepers, vicar, and more.)
- How large a local area did the activities in a village support?
- How rich / poor were the average villagers?
- What sort of food did they eat?
- Who lived in what sort of houses?
- How did the villagers interact with the local Lord?
About the Instructor
Kim Lambert learnt to ride at the age of 8 (she is now 66) and has spent a great deal of time on Australian country properties(whose agricultural heritage very much goes back to the British). Her riding and associated horse experience (She has done dressage, jumping, cross country, fox hunting, general riding, a little western riding, and has ridden sidesaddle extensively, including in medieval period costume at parades and displays. She taught riding to group classes at a riding school for many years, as well as teaching one on one. She is a historical re-creationist, and has made all of the costume to go with it. She has driven lightweight gigs and heavier carts, pulled by single horses, and been taught much about driving teams. Riding styles in Australia derived from the British, so she has an advantage in understanding the English riding of the Regency era) led her to dig deeper into the way that many associated rural activities were done in the Regency era.
She has an Associate Diploma in Applied Science in Horse Husbandry (a three-year practical and theoretical course which qualifies her to run horse breeding facilities), and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science in Computing. The Horse Husbandry diploma also involved (probably not what you’d expect!) studying farming –crops, pasture, sheep, traditional methods vs modern methods and more. Combine that with her interest in history, and the research she compulsively does when writing her Regency books, and she has built up an impressive amount of knowledge about rural life and farming in the Regency era.
Her first published work was an article in the Australian Hoofs and Horns magazine, when she was 15. She has published more than one hundred books, both fiction and non-fiction, in a variety of genres. Her book on writing –‘Writing Tips and Tricks –More Than 40 Ways to Improve YOUR Writing Today!’ –won three awards in 2016. She writes non-fiction under her own name, and fiction under a variety of pen names.
Writing Regency romances is her favourite kind of writing. She writes as Arietta Richmond, and has released more than 70 books to date. Learn more at www.ariettarichmond.com
Class Delivery
Class Format
4-WEEK COURSE
Written Lectures: most of it will be PDF documents
Video Lectures: There will be a Zoom Q&A session near the end of the course to allow direct Q and A
Pictures: Lots of images in the lesson material
Audio Files: None
Writing Exercises: none – although some ‘rural life ‘plot hooks’ to think about will be given
Class Fees
$40 for RFW members
$55 for non-members
Registration ends July 11, 2026!
Scholarships are available for members
