FarmVille English Countryside Cheats and Tips: Farming on new land

We know, you've been inundated with news about the first FarmVille expansion, English Countryside (EC). But don't worry, as this information will be far more useful to you than a minute-long trailer (though, it is kind of cool). So, you've arrived in England and now it's time to begin farming, but much has changed since your days in ... wherever your original farm is located. Join us behind the break for some pointers on farming in the English Countryside.

1. Brand New Crops to Master
Of course, we all know that this new farm will have brand new crops to master, but which exactly. So far, we know of a few crops that will be exclusive to English Countryside:

    Red Currents
    Hops
    Foxglove
    Barley
    Turnips
    Radish
    Pink Asters


If you hadn't already noticed, many of these new crops are normally used in brewing beers and wine making. This is because the Pub will be a brand new building in EC. While it's not 100 percent certain that we will be crafting beers and wines, I'm willing to bet on it based on these exclusive crops. Speaking of which ...

Mastery everywhere!
2. Mastery Bonuses Aplenty!
Zynga treated Mastery in FarmVille EC with a laser focus. Apparently the soil in England is much richer than wherever your original farm was, meaning that crops will be much easier to master. Just like the notifications you receive for crop bushels while harvesting crops now, pop-ups will appear notifying you of bonus Mastery points when harvesting in EC.

3. Trees can Grow Anywhere
Of course, there will be new trees to grow in EC with a brand new Orchard that can be repaired using the same materials used to build the original like Boards, Nails and Bricks. While these trees will only grow in England initially, the Mystery Seedlings they provide will appear in your Gift Box, which will be linked between both games. That said, it's your choice whether to grow that seed in England or on the old farm.

English Buildings and Vehicles
4. Repairing this Old n' Busted Farm
When you arrive in England, the farm you will come to know and love will be in tatters. It's up to you to fix these buildings and vehicles if a.) You want Sheep to breed, drinks to brew or Horses to stable, and b.) You want to help the good folks of EC. Thankfully, it's a fairly simple process: All of the buildings in EC use the same building materials as those in the original. So, start stacking up on Special Delivery Boxes--about 100 would be good to start with. Of course, your friends will be there to help as well.

5.The Market has Remained Sacred
Thankfully, Zynga has refrained from making any jarring changes to the Market in EC. This means that both games' Markets will be nearly identical. Well, except for the contents given that many FarmVille EC items are exclusive.

[Source and Final Image Credit: FarmVille Freak]

Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.

Have you prepared for farming on the English Countryside? What other tips might you have for preparing to farm in this new environment?

FarmVille English Countryside Cheats and Tips: Sheep Breeding 101

Horse breeding has been a mainstay of FarmVille for some time, but Zynga's other favorite livestock, Sheep, has been largely ignored. Well, aside from being the game's mascot, but no more! Sheep Breeding is the next big thing in FarmVille's English Countryside. Thanks to FarmVille Freak, we have all the details to make your experiencing easing into this brand new feature an enjoyable one.

Here are the most important things to know about Sheep Breeding before touching down in EC:

        Breeding Sheep has the possibility of producing Lambs.
        Lambs can be named. You will be able to change the name of your Lamb when it's a baby or adult.
        Lambs will require that you feed them Baby Bottles if you want them to grow into a Ram or Ewe.
        You cannot transfer Sheep over from your original farm to the English Countryside.
        Sheep Breeding is random, with no deterministic outcome.
        Offspring is based on DNA of parents genetics, but is not fully predetermined.
        Combinations of patterned sheep is in the thousands or even millions range! There are many, many possibilities for patterns and colors of offspring.
        You do not know what a Lamb will look like when it grows up. They are mysterious like that, meaning that if you have a Grey Lamb it could grow into a Purple Star patterned Sheep.
        Males determine Lamb patterns.
        New breeding opportunity for farmers to specialize in such as a color or pattern.
        When your Lamb is fully grown, you will be given Love Potions in which you can share with your farming friends via the Facebook News Feed.


Sheep UK FlagAs you can see, Sheep Breeding will be complex in FarmVille EC. Players will receive five Sheep to breed upon entering the game or fixing up the Sheep Pen. Breeding takes place on a Sheep Pen that looks largely similar to Pig Pens currently in the game, but with less mud and slop. Of course, the Pen has a "Look Inside" option that allows players to micromanage 20 of their sheep, but that number can double with an upgrade.

Breeding the Sheep is as easy as picking two Sheep and selecting "Breed." Once your Sheep produce a Lamb, you will have the option to either keep it or give it away to your friends, presumably through a News Feed post. The potential combinations for your fluffy offspring is said to be in the millions.

[Source: FarmVille Freak]

Check out the rest of our English Countryside coverage right here.

Have you made any preparations for Sheep Breeding in FarmVille EC? What pre-game tips might you have to ready us for Sheep Breeding?

FarmVille English Countryside Decorations: Spring Cottage, Bluebells Knoll & More

While we've seen some Easter and Spring-related items being released in FarmVille this week, we can't forget that the English Countryside theme is still chugging alone, with four new items being released in the buildings and decorations department this evening.

To start, the two buildings are the Spring Cottage and the English Mill. The English Mill is the more expensive of the two items, costing 25 Farm Cash, while the Spring Cottage goes for coins - a whopping 350,000 coins, to be exact. With the increasing coin prices of buildings, it almost makes me want to spend Farm Cash on the items instead... almost. Then again, that's probably the entire point, but I digress.

For a full look at the new decorations released tonight, meet us behind the break.

As for the new decorative items, you'll be able to purchase just two: the Bluebells Knoll, which costs 10,000 coins, and the Garden Trellis Bench, which is priced at 150,000. The Garden Trellis Bench is a fairly large item, all things considered, standing both tall and wide. The Bluebells Knoll, then, is roughly the size of the other hill items that have been released in the past, but simply covered in a few Bluebell flowers for effect.

Regardless of which item you choose to purchase, all are available in the game's store for the next two weeks. There weren't a lot of items released in the English Countryside theme this evening, which leaves me to wonder if Zynga is finally running out of things to release; or, perhaps they've transitioned more into Spring items for the time being. We'll make sure to let you know what ends up being the case either way.