Episode 1

In this landmark living history series, a late 1800s Victorian arts and crafts commune in the Welsh hills has been painstakingly brought back to life as a group of 21st-century crafters move in to experience the highs and lows of living and working together as a creative commune. Over their month-long stay they are set to renovate four of the key rooms in the house.

In the first episode Anita Rani is joined by internationally renowned potter Keith Brymer Jones and arts and crafts expert and dealer Patch Rogers, as the six crafters are faced with the challenge of breathing life back into the Victorian parlour. Using original Victorian tools and techniques, they create arts and crafts objects including a Sussex chair, CR Ashbee bowl and William Morris-inspired wallpaper - all from scratch and all in a week.

All the while, they are also eating, working and living within the philosophies first outlined by the likes of John Ruskin and William Morris. Will their 1890s communal life help them to better understand the depth and scale of the Arts and Crafts movement, both as a power for artistic and social change? Will the arts and crafts life make them better crafters and reconnect them creatively to what they love?