In early 1944 thousands of American soldiers continue to engage in military manoeuvres with landing craft and tanks on the North Devon sandy beaches. When will they move on and where will they go?Against this wartime backdrop, Emily, a newly qualified teacher comes to convalesce at the farm near West Buckland owned by her aunt and uncle, after witnessing the bombing of Sandhurst Road School in Lewisham and suffering a nervous breakdown. Although there is little risk of bombing in N...

In 1943, a close friendship develops between two families in wartime North Devon, one renting a small, terraced house in Barnstaple and the other living on a rented smallholding in the country. While they have to cope with illness, rationing and evacuees, American troops arrive to carry out military manoeuvres on the magnificent beaches, and a mysterious tenant comes to live at a secluded cottage on the Fortescue Estate. Why does he shun all contact?‘Make Do and Mend was the wartim...