How Life has Changed

Whenever we think of how life has changed over the years we sometimes tend to focus on the visual - more houses, cars etc, plus all the electric gadgets we all have to hand.

However if we were to travel back in time, say 150 years, other big change would be:

Sounds
Life in a cottage would revolve around the crackle of the fire, the 'singing' of the kettle and maybe the gentle 'tick tock' of the old clock.

The sounds of nature would be heard from outside - lots of wild birds, plus on a small-holding the lowing of cattle, clucking of hens, neighing of the horse and bleating of sheep - plus maybe a cock crowing.  We would have heard the wheels of traps, the clatter of harness and horses hooves, plus the noise of clogs and hob nailed boots.  The only other sound may have been the distant whistle of a steam train.

Feeling/Touch
There would also be a great difference to the way we felt.  Probably colder and a lot more tired and achy.  We would be wearing rougher and heavier garments, plus heavy boots or clogs and maybe itchy woolen underwear.  We would have to wrap up well in winter, and often have no waterproof coats or boots.  We would feel exhausted from all the physical work, either in the house or on the land, even having to collect water from village wells, and with no luxury of a soak in a hot bath when we got home - that would have been a once-a-week event with just a quick wash during the week - and water having to be heated on a coal fire.

Taste
Food would be what we could grow or pick.  No chance of deciding what you wanted to eat - you would be lucky to have a full stomach - let alone refusing a meal.
If you were lucky your family would kill a pig to last through the winter.

Smell

There would be the smell of smoke from the fires, the constant animal smells from either your own animals or the ones that family members worked with.  Plus, personal hygiene would not have been as it is today - but I suppose everyone was in the same situation!

Even the nature of the village would have been different - with many more people working  the fields and walking the lanes, children playing - or perhaps more likely helping with the household or farm chores or doing errands.

If you have more ideas just let us know.