Farmhouse Kitchen - 1973 Boxing Day

Farmhouse Kitchen was a popular ITV cookery series produced by Yorkshire Television (YTV) from 1971 to 1990. The show aimed to educate housewives and homemakers on traditional British cookery and thrifty meal preparation.
Hosts: The program was initially hosted by Dorothy Sleightholme and later by Grace Mulligan.
Format: Weekly, weekday afternoon broadcasts featuring visual demonstrations of old-fashioned British cookery and budget-friendly meal ideas.
Cookbooks: Yorkshire Television published several cookbooks based on the show’s recipes, including:
Farmhouse Kitchen (1975)
Farmhouse Kitchen II (1978)
Farmhouse Kitchen book 3 (1982)
Farmhouse Kitchen microwave cook book (1986)
Farmhouse Kitchen: cooking for one & two (1988)

[@tinachristineanndevereux]

This is home to me. At 63 I find myself living in a world I don't recognise or understand. This time was a wonderful time to be alive in.

[@phubblewubbphubblewubb]

I'm with you there!

[@neilsthompson589]

Generally Simple And Wholesome. A Cosy Blanket Of Memories.

[@rosezingleman5007]

Same here from America. Julia Child on the television. Somehow making miracles from US ingredients.

[@Jenniejones60]

Same I’m 62 and live the past now …, a different country 😢

[@frankgourlay66]

💯 happy days

[@markcooke729]

My youth has just come flooding back to me! I've not been feeling in the Christmas spirit like I usually do, but this has brought it right back - thank you 🥰

[@AngelaPennock]

Loved watching this with mum. I’ve still got the book. Sadly mum is gone and I’m in my 60s. Great programme and no nonsense presenters

[@michaeldibb]

Very similar for me, and I've still got the book too. My sister and I liked to make the Ginger beer recipe in the book.

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

Snap….I still have the large book …a golden age…we just didn’t know it…

[@ricrestrepo5983]

Same, lovely post. God bless x

[@SallyBarker-i7q]

I’m 57 now.this reminds me of being off school.there’s something about her voice that is relaxing.occasionally there was unintentional comedy like the time she dropped a full mixing bowl on the floor.”now today I’m going to make……..”😊

[@michaelmcveigh985]

Same, happy, happy memories! X

[@marcse7en]

As soon as I heard the theme tune, I was transported back in time 50 years, and was 11 again!

[@glamdolly30]

Me too, that jaunty music is so familiar!

[@mrelano65]

I was 8 and I'm with you on that. In fact, anything from the 70s takes me right back. I wish I could go back in person rather than in mind.

[@EBB-kab]

I know! The music dragged me back to being a little girl. 😊

[@dd7521]

I just love these old programmes, how polite and lovely people were in that era. 🥰

[@alisonjordan]

The moment I heard the signature tune🎶 I was transported back to my Family Home 🏡 I must admit, I got quite emotional...

[@garychard3894]

Different times with different problems but none of the entitlement attitude that has wrecked this country.....thanks for this memory back to simpler times and my wonderful childhood.

[@manmaje3596]

@@mjvanderpas2284 That's just rude. Have we become so politically polarised we cant be nostalgic without being politically scorned?

[@glamdolly30]

I fully agree with the original poster. Entitlement and its equally evil siblings, narcissism and victimhood, are the scourge of the modern age!

[@C1223opuv]

Watching this ❤program reminded me how lucky I was to live in Great Britain before everything was wrecked. The 1970s were really a magical time. Thank you for posting.

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

Magical and also a lot of unrest….power cuts and strikes..just as well we remember the beat bits…

[@raydegs1602]

Totally agree

[@philipareed]

*programme

[@C1223opuv]

@ are you seriously spending your time correcting people’s spelling on KZbin? You need a hobby mate.

[@gerardmackay8909]

@@jacquelinearcher1158 yes I was a boy then and it was crap. Give me 2024 over 1974 any day

[@jayatkinson1152]

I absolutely love Dorothy... she is so comforting and takes me back to simpler, gentler times when my best friend and I would watch this programme at her mum's house. Beautiful xxx

[@0ConkersBadFurDay0]

I was immediately transported back to my childhood. I used to watch this with my mum. Comforting memories, but sad at the same time as this era is long gone along with my mum 💔

[@FrancesPye]

Yes I was born in 1965 ahopted a diffrrent time x

[@ThomasClark-bi1zz]

Brilliant programme that I remember as a child. The old school sure made some wonderful food,just like my mum. ❤

[@nosconopa]

Loved watching this in my luch break from school.I loved her voice.....

[@milliewilkie1969]

I have a huge Farmhouse Kitchen cook book its brilliant

[@JoanneWhite-yk2so]

Takes me back to being a kid sat at my grandma's 😊

[@Azureecosse]

I forgot about this programme as soon as I heard the music it all came back to me.

[@lindsayford8224]

Wish we could go back in time

[@davey8914]

I remember cycling home from 6th form, through the slush of a cold, wet 1977 winter on my precious Xmas gift - a snazzy American-style Raleigh bicycle. I'd always make sure to pass Mrs Hardigan's bungalow on the way home. There, she would often wave me inside the cosy porch, where she would delicately wipe down my Chopper, leaving it shiny, warm and ready to ride. And there'd always be a portion of something hot and contemporary to keep this young lad from the chills; whether it was Toad in the Hole, Cottage Pie with Cheesy Mash or Mary Berry's Easy Fish Casserole. On a good day I'd also receive a dessert of Upside-Down Tart, a moist slice of Delia Smith's Black Forest Gateau, or Chocolate Brownies depending on the time of the month. I never did get Spotted Dick but she always had me gagging for an Arctic Roll on New Year's Day. Happy days, though it all came to a halt in 1979 when Mum got suspicious after finding what looked like Cheese Fondue all over my bike saddle 😞. I miss you so much Mrs Hardigan 💔

[@glamdolly30]

How long did it take you to compile that collection of woefully unfunny, single entendres? A tragic waste of your (but mostly my) time.

[@Hummingbird108]

Am loving these shows food with natural stuff not the yuck of today😊

[@tamrielspirit3285]

Used to come on at 1.30 in the afternoon Always watched it when I was skiving school

[@darktimer]

Superb! Thank you. Comforting no nonsense presentation - what a delight. Please post more if you have them.🙏🙏🙏

[@glamdolly30]

Dorothy was adorable, and so was the cosy farmhouse kitchen studio set! From a simpler time, when men were men, women were women - and both were thankful for it!

[@stevenmcnicoll5060]

I used to pretend to be sick and get the day off school. Dorothy's recipes would always help me convince my gran (and myself) I was genuinely ill. Then General Hospital, Queenie's Castle, Tomorrow People. Cream of tomato soup. Done and dusted.

[@alecporter1784]

OMG those were the days.

[@richardlionheart3965]

Crown Court, Sullivans, Young Doctors, News at One! It's a wonder i got an education

[@sabinabirnie3761]

Happy days 😊

[@glamdolly30]

@@richardlionheart3965 I feel 'seventies TV was an education in itself - often superior to anything taught at state schools!

[@TheRuthParsons]

Paint Along with Nancy Kaminski and A Family at War were brilliant!

[@AmandaLewis-m9s]

Takes me back, relaxing.

[@TheRickie41]

I find it very inspiring. What touches me most is the bad cold of the lady. She still does her thing.

[@glamdolly30]

I know, God bless her, that's a hacking cough!

[@michaelleacy]

Everyone smoked back then, it was so accepted they didn't even bother to do a retake

[@wackthegood8884]

Can you imagine a TV chef nowadays coughing several times during an episode. It would be edited out, and poor old Dorothy would be receiving hate mail!

[@davedeilhsm]

When you think of the austere sets the BBC had Ms Cradock using, you realise the effort and budget Yorkshire TV had to make this set. Impressive.

[@RobinMorley]

I was just thinking the same! They could definitely have managed with a smaller, less complex set but the one they built looks amazing

[@glamdolly30]

Very true - I wondered if this very convincing farmhouse kitchen set perhaps doubled up as Annie Sugden's, on Yorkshire TV's popular evening soap 'Emmerdale Farm'. Poor old Fanny Cradock over at the Beeb around the same time, was literally given a bare TV studio, one gas cooker and a rickety table. Though unlike trooper Dorothy who soldiered on alone, Fanny always had a terrified young assistant by her side to hand the more menial jobs to.

[@Mr71paul71]

Back when the country was still normal

[@Nerak7219]

I'm in the US and have never heard of this show before but this was a very enjoyable watch. Thank you!

[@tadool5352]

Same, it’s really nice to watch.

[@Comfortzone99]

It is a long-forgotten 70s afternoon show, that was probably watched by stay-at-home wives , the sick ... and kids absconding from school LOL ..Dear old Dorothy probably never dreamed that in the future somebody in the US might be interested in her puddings LOL

[@countbelalucozade]

It ran for almost 20 years.

[@E.B.J.S.]

Dorothy Sleightholme was very impressive, especially as this is a single take. I look forward to more episodes, thanks, if you have any.

[@clivestuarteardley6049]

Remember this series so well. And the theme tune and Dorothy.

[@ceceliapassarella8485]

Thanks for sharing this series I especially enjoyed the one that featured the recipes of fig pudding and Christmas cake fruit cake these recipes are a treasure I have a vintage Mrs Beaton recipe book from 1906 but seeing the recipes made is awesome 👏 great 👍 keep posting these ❤❤❤

[@michaeldibb]

You are so welcome!

[@FrankNFurter1000]

She's incredibly sweet and comforting! Quite the world away from Fanny Cradock or sure!

[@macsmiffy2197]

When we had a joyful, simple relationship with food.

[@melgrant7404]

Agree.

[@GTtastes]

Although I was born in Yorkshire in the 60s, I don't remember watching this program. However I do have the book and I occasionally make recipes from it!

[@Azureecosse]

We had it on TV in Scotland it must have been a National

[@simonjones7727]

I love the fact that "Farmhouse Kitchen" was filmed in a ultra modern TV studio by presumably very groovily dressed broadcasting professionals. Did I read somewhere that Dorothy Sleighthome used to drive a Porsche? It was not quite exactly what it seemed...

[@glamdolly30]

I SO hope that's true!

[@rachelwest6429]

Always wondered how my mum came across these books and now I know. Thanks for uploading this nostalgic gem. ❤

[@AndyAndy-ej9le]

Mace "you can buy it at the chemist" like olive oil. I think this programme is what got me into cooking. I remember though getting an Italian cookbook from the library and ended up buying GARLIC. It was commented on by teachers in school as I liked just to eat it. "Don't you think it's a bit antisocial" No Mr. Green Maths teacher I don't LOL

[@carolined668]

Take me back there please😊

[@michaelleacy]

Get rid of your mobile, internet (including KZbin of course) and anything else that didn't exist back then, if that's what you really want

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

Somehow I think Bridget Jones Mum’s “ Boxing Day curry” might have come from this show’s recipe book.

[@FrancesPye]

Sounded like she was on 60 Benson & Hedges a day lol hahaha 😂😂😂❤

[@purplelilacs9742]

I'm from the USA, but she pronounces the word "vegetables" , just like my grandma did. 😊

[@jamesure2426]

I recall every note of that theme tune

[@martinpensom5103]

I bought my mum the Farmhouse Kitchen recipe book for a present and talcum powder lol

[@sparx550]

Like a comfort blanket of wonderful memories.

[@glamdolly30]

16:05 Dorothy needed a bigger saucepan - and a better assistant! Nowadays Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver, Nigella and the rest have a team of 'home economists' (ie professional cooks) employed on their TV series to ensure every recipe demo runs perfectly. Poor Dorothy probably had no such support!

[@stepheng8779]

They also have a load of hangers on watching em cook for some reason 🤷

[@pupskin123]

Great programme! Felt like giving Dorothy some meds for her cough! 😂

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

Back then 1970s we spend 30% of our income on food shopping….so recipes will seem basic ..but every one was making the most of what we had…

[@Deb-s6q]

I love the kitchen

[@MarkPMus]

£14.36 the book cost in 2024 terms, according to Bank of England inflation calculator. 😊

[@seanH1768]

I remember watching this program with my gran, and I still swear it’s the same kitchen as was used in the original Emmerdale Farm

[@elaine58100]

Lovely to watch. At first I thought it was Imelda Staunton.

[@David-uf8ex]

This reminds me of bunking off school back in the day 😆 Lovely to see older normal presenters back then not like the Botox bunch today

[@madabbafan]

I remember one year my dad buying a turkey so large that mum had to cut the legs off it to fit it in the oven even then it was a tight squeeze. The legs went into the freezer and were used later the next year. Well it was turkey pasta, turkey curry turkey everything for a week after Christmas day. No wonder I now loathe the stuff. Apparently dad bought it because it was 'the right price'.

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

Often they were so expensive you had to eat them all week..back then our food costs were much higher proportion of our income compared to today. I’ve seen it say 30% of our income was food costs…I think that’s true..

[@goinblinddoggone]

​@@jacquelinearcher1158 my Mam would walk a mile to save a penny and keep a family of 9 well nourished!

[@glamdolly30]

@@goinblinddoggone Your mum, and others like her, were heroes all, and the backbone of this country!

[@tomaseire]

Love the studio!

[@Sharon-uy1uf]

Loving this series , thank you much appreciated 🎉🙂✨

[@ianrobert6239]

Excellent 👍

[@brianfowler1879]

I spot Weatherspoons plates 👌

[@MsPossums]

Also found in the 'Bavarian' chain of restaurants in Australia. I love them.😊

[@suzannetallent2185]

Wow that music takes me back

[@julianmeek2156]

Love this. Remember Dorothy Sleightholme with great affection. Didn't she die mid-series? No, she retired in January 1982, I just checked it. This is what television during the 1970s did so well, relaxing, quiet, slightly eccentric. I doubt whether many people followed the recipes slavishly if at all, but programmes like this did have an effect, if not immediately than on the next generation. What I love is the approximation of cuisine - the salad would make many cringe today and the risotto recipe with long-grain rice and half a ton of additions.... That was how it was done then, and cooks like Dorothy Sleightholme and her successor Grace Mulligan knew their onions. Mind you, where would you have bought mayonnaise in the 1970s? Delia Smith was cautioning against substituting "that stuff in a tall bottle called salad cream" in the 80s...

[@nativevirginian8344]

@@michaeldibb Yorkshire Post had Mulligan’s obit in 2018. Said Sleightholme died in 1982/83.

[@julianmeek2156]

@@michaeldibb The same thought crossed my mind. I seem to remember the same. Date of death 20 May 1985.

[@gerardmackay8909]

@@michaeldibb yes it was Dorothy she died in a car crash in 1983

[@michaeldibb]

@@julianmeek2156 I've just been looking through old newspapers and on 27 Dec 1980 they printed this... 2.00 FARMHOUSE KITCHEN: "Salads and Vegetables" pre- sented by resident cook Dorothy Sleightholme, with guest Grace Hugill, who was killed in a car crash shortly after this was recorded. This sounds like Grace Hugill died, how sad if Dorothy died 2 years later in a car crash also.

[@julianmeek2156]

@@michaeldibb Dorothy Sleightholme died in 1985. June 20 I think.

[@jacquelinearcher1158]

The Pate is practically Sherry on toast…🍷🍷🍷hic 😂

[@HellasGD88]

I was 7 that yr where have those yrs gone.

[@carlosyamara]

Never seen this before, but I love it. It seems almost a copy of the old French Chef episodes with Julia Child. Makes me very nostalgic, even though when this aired I was just 3 years old 😂

[@IngenerateIngenue]

My maths makes her 38 in 1973 😮 Born in 1935 she died in 2024 aged 89. I think she did well considering her wheezy breaths & chesty cough!

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

People looked older for their age back then. 🤪

[@glamdolly30]

Some surprisingly good and diverse recipes there for leftover turkey or indeed chicken. Poor little Dorothy had a hacking cough, she sounds like she should have been tucked up in bed having some of that delicious turkey soup brought to her on a tray, not hosting an energetic cookery show. What a trooper she was! By the way, does anyone know when Dorothy passed on? I Googled her, and there are two, very different versions online. One says she was replaced as host of 'Farmhouse Kitchen' in 1982, because she died in a car crash. Other versions say she died very recently, November 21st 2024, of natural causes. Does anyone out there know???

[@countbelalucozade]

She retired from the show and died peacefully aged 89.

[@glamdolly30]

@@countbelalucozade Oh thank you, I'm so glad! How awful that such a big and distressing piece of misinformation is out there on the internet

[@BrianCormackCarr]

@@countbelalucozadeDo you have a source for that? I’ve been trying to find the info but there’s a load of nonsense online. One story says she died in a car crash (a different Dorothy Sleightholme possibly) or that she died four days ago (in which case she must have lived to about 120!)

[@gregbouchard414]

At looking rally nice u do a rally good job on here keep up there good work on here

[@michaelpotts9800]

Upload more. Fantastic tv

[@katerace9160]

BLISS ❤❤❤❤❤

[@kencook7580]

Where's the bubble and squeek !

[@ninaleach6350]

My friends and I watched this for a good laugh..........."don't boil the milk.........oh it's boiling now" 😂 ❤Dorothy❤ but 🤢

[@eurouc]

2:00…. Cough 😷 into hand then use said hand to touch food 😝

[@TheTRStv]

Everyone an expert on how/when Dorothy Sleightholme died, 1982, 1983, 1985, four days ago!

[@michaeldibb]

I searched British Newspaper Archive, the articles say she retired in 1982, and by 1984 she was the late Dorothy Sleightholme.

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

​@@michaeldibb Not an expert. Just got the wrong information.

[@gordonmackay3225]

Nice memories from when I was young and still at school. Comforting programme and I liked this lady's voice. Am I right in reading she has sadly died only four days ago on 21.11.24?

[@BrianCormackCarr]

That’s fake news. She died in the 80s, which is why Grace Mulligan took over.

[@juliemullen365]

I was 7 😊❤would of been playing with all my lovely toys

[@dpelpal]

I wonder if the American tradition of eating turkey on Thanksgiving comes from the British tradition of eating Turkey on Christmas?🤔

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

Turkey was imported to England from the Americas.

[@dpelpal]

@@Gio_Vanni6143 Oh. I guess that settles that😁

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

👍🏾😆

[@Alexander1868]

In Victorian times people prefer to eat goose, chicken or even duck meat for Christmas.

[@clairenoon4070]

​@@Gio_Vanni6143 They were brought to England from the Americas centuries ago, and have been farmed here ever since. There are records of Henry VIII eating turkey.

[@sianwarwick633]

Invaluable recipes for tackling many cooking projects on the ho

[@kumachan9311]

Plates from Weatherspoon's

[@Sharon-uy1uf]

O I didn’t know that of Dorothy how very sad.

[@butchdugan]

I do love Dorothy however, my heart will always belong to Fanny Cradock especially at the holidays!

[@countbelalucozade]

I couldn't stand Fanny Cradock.

[@glamdolly30]

Dorothy and Fanny - truly chalk and cheese!

[@95KIPPIE]

This is so weird and corny, omg, I am laughing my rear end off!!!

[@chas1759]

Those first two platters looked sickening ugggh!,

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

The Rothmans ciggie side cough

[@kirschrot77]

All the food is beige

[@londonlady227]

Loved Dorothy over Grace...but Dorothy passed in a car crash hence the hostess changing. 😢

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

I believe Ms. Sleightholme died two days ago at 89 years of age. 21 November 2024.

[@gerardmackay8909]

@@Gio_Vanni6143 and to think 2 people thought your silly comment was worth an uptick. So 89 2 days ago eh? So she was 38 presenting this show 😅

[@countbelalucozade]

Wrong.

[@glamdolly30]

Google is totally confused about Dorothy Sleightholme's fate. Some entries say she died in a car crash and that's why she left 'Farmhouse Kitchen in 1982. Other listings say Dorothy retired from the show and happily handed over the reigns to Grace Mulligan in 1982 (this I believe). There are recent Google results saying she died very recently, on 21st November 2024 - but I must say, I think if that were true she'd have been around 120! Unfortunately there is no Wikipedia entry or obituary for Dorothy. Her 'Farmhouse Kitchen' successor however, Grace Mulligan, who was surely younger than Dorothy, died in 2018, at the grand old age of 91.

[@gerardmackay8909]

@@glamdolly30 you’re right google/wiki is an unhelpful mess but I remember a segment on daytime tv at least 30 years ago which referred to the ‘late’ Dorothy Sleightholme so I think the betting is that she did die sometime in the 80s. She was an effortlessly capable presenter and her wholesome hearty food were British staples at their comforting best. Nice lady

[@mickwillis6981]

Nigella she ain’t.

[@rah62]

That is the worst excuse for risotto I've ever seen!

[@Kandlelite]

1973 what did you expect ?? 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@annoldham3018]

My dad called her Dorothy Slateloose! 😂 She was the quintessential stereotype that Victoria Wood and Julie Walters parodied!😂❤

[@glamdolly30]

Victoria Wood brilliantly parodied 'seventies TV generally - and watching this you can see why, telly was so clunky and amateurish back then, compared with its modern, slick equivalent. I preferred the imperfect, recorded 'as live' (with many mistakes left in) version of old!

[@nigelpowton9509]

I always have cold takeaway pizza fo Christmas lunch.Hate Christmas dinner.

[@lisarojas9]

Never in my life have I heard so much coughing during a live cooking show. the BBC has come a long way in terms of quality

[@michaeldibb]

This was Yorkshire TV from Leeds not the BBC. They just had the scary Fanny Craddock 😂

[@Jenniejones60]

It’s called real life😊

[@dd7521]

And propaganda 😮😊

[@Skidoo22]

I dont like mayonnaise 🤮