World War 1 research - Around the home

As the brief requires us to make props to show how villagers from near the trenches continued with their lives, these will be from working class families.
Most commonly, occupants in a village home would be farmers as their produce was in high demand from soldiers and because of rationing.

The kitchen - Was the heart of the home. It was quite basic for a working class family, with a small coal fired stove and maybe a cabinet and shelves.

Families ate cheap cuts of meat in their meals, but rationing began and so meat was rare to get. Some families came close to starvation during World War 1. Dried oats were ate quite a lot as you can make them in large batches and store for ages. Pieces of bread with warm milk was also a common meal. 

Bathroom - Poor families did not have a toilet indoors; they would have to go outside where the toilet would be in a small shed. There would be a small tin bath that would be filled with hot water heated on the stove in pots. 

Bedrooms - Would also be small, with many to one room. Sometimes, four- six people would share a double bed in really poor families.  

Farming family's home in WW1.

• The whole house would be heated by a fireplace downstairs. As production stopped and nobody had money during WW1, walls would be peeling with paint and wooden floors would be uneven and dusty. Some houses had gas lighting, but a poor family would have lit their house with candlelight. 

This family also had extended family living with them.