............but only to my bank balance!
Miki, from The Netherlands writes a lovely blog called ' .Farms on My Bookshelf'. She tracks down books by people who've got away from it all, usually moving to the countryside, and writes about the book as well as trying to find out more about the authors.
These sort of books are something I've been reading since the 70's - starting with John Seymour and his books on self sufficiency. Many I've owned at one time or another and they've gone in house moves or downsizing and many I still have but Miki keeps coming up with titles I've never heard of and that's what's dangerous.
Her last post had a fantastic list of books she hasn't read yet
Neil Ansell: Deep Country
Diana Ashworth: Iolo's Revenge
Dave Atkins: The Cuckoo in June
Lillian Beckwith: The Hills is Lonely
Teleri Bevan: Guardian of Snowdonia
Teleri Bevan: They Dared to Make a Difference
Dan Boothby; Island of Dreams
Sally Borst: Self Deficiency
Hope Bourne: Wild Harvest
Mark Boyle: The Way Home
Kate Bradbury: The Bumble Bee Flies Anyway
Steve Brown: A Song for Ewe
Hilary Burden: A Story of Seven Summers
Nancy Campbell: Thunderstone
Cassels and Baer: Our Wild Farming Life
Mary Clifford: Hill-Farm Hazard
Janet Corke: A Hidden Home in the Gwydyr Forest
Elisabeth Cragoe: Cowslips and Clover, a.o.
George Courtauld: An Axe, a Spade and Ten Acres
Molly Douglas: Going West with Annabelle
Monica Edwards: The Unsought Farm
T.Firbank: I bought a Mountain
J.A.Fitton
Frank Fraser Darling: Island Y ears, Island Farm
Mary Elizabeth Fricke: My Life on a Missouri Hog Farm
Joyce Fussey
Carol Madeline Graham: A Shoulder on the Hill
Charlotte Gray: Sisters in the Wilderness
E.M.Harland: Farmer's Girl, a.o.
G.Henderson: The Farming Ladder
Mary Hiemstra: Gully Farm
Pam Houston: Deep Creek
Sue Hubbell: A Country Year a.o.
John Jackson: A Bucket of Nuts and a Herring Net
Deborah Kellaway: The Making of an English Country Garden
Rachel Knappett: A Pullet on the Midden
Patrick Laurie: Native
June Knox-Mawer: SA Ram in the Well
Margaret Leigh: A Spade among the Rushes
Jackie Moffat: The Funmy Farm
C.Munro: Ponies at the Edge of the World
Elaine Penwarden: It's the Plants that Matter
B.Plummer: The Cottage at the End of the World
Sue Powell: Holding on a Hillside
James Rebanks: The Sheperd's Life
C.Reynolds: Glory Hill Farm
Patrick Rivers: Living on a Little Land
Cecil Roberts: Gone Rustic
Rebecca Schiller: Earthed
Ken Smith: The Way of the Hermit
Lalage Snow: My Family and Other Seedlings
Tina Spencer-Knott Fools Rush In
E.Pruitt Stewart: Letters of a Woman Homesteader
Mark Sundeen: The Unsettlers
Derek Tangye: many books
Thelwell: A Millstone Round my Neck
Iain R.Thomson Isolation Shepherd
Marjorie Hessell Tiltman: A Little Place in the Country, a.o.
Catherine Parr Trail: The Canadian Settler's Guide
Sally Urwin: Diary of a Pint-sized Farmer
P.Waling: Counting Sheep
Terry Walton: My Life on a Hillside Allotment
Janet White: The Sheep Stell
Henry Williamson: Tales of a Devon Village a.o.
a.o. = and other
She also has the details of all those she had read. Many off both lists I know of and have read. But the problem is others that I've never heard of but they sound so interesting I'm tempted to hop over to abebooks or amazon to track them down and end up saving the details or ordering.
Oh dear!
So far I've resisted from this new list.....but......................
Back Soon
Sue
There must be something wrong with the world with all these people trying to escape. What a long list to read though. I still like 'Hovel in the Hills'.
ReplyDeleteThe Hovel books are some I'll not be getting rid of
DeleteLike Thelma, I still like Hovel in the Hills and its compatriots, Garden in the HIlls and Kitchen in the HIlls.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading all the Lilian Beckwith books many years ago (probably when they were first published). I have Monica Edwards The Unsought Farm, if you want to borrow it. Quite desirable to buy. I read ALL her pony books, including of course the ones set at Punchbowl Farm aka The Unsought Farm, which is in the Devil's Punchbowl near Hindhead in Surrey. That house is the reason we ended up in Wales, as those pony books stamped me for life with a desire for inglenooks and beams . . . Truly!
Thelma, people have always wanted to escape the cities - even Edward Thomas did back in the day.
Lilian Beckwith were favourites way back - I read them as they arrived in the library. They were classified as non fiction but later info said they were mostly fiction only loosely based on her life and village
DeleteOh dear, once you've found someone who read and recommends the kind of books you like your bookshelves and bank balances are doomed!
ReplyDeleteThere are many in her list that I'm tempted with!
DeleteI do love a book to read and own.....
ReplyDeleteDefinitely - in moderation!
DeleteWhen you're a book lover and you see such a list it's a slippery slope isn't it. I always try the library first as Abe Books is a dangerous place for me to roam alone! Arilx
ReplyDeleteYes I check the library but as most of the titles are much older books not often lucky
DeleteThat sounds amazing and also, I agree, dangerous! My bookshelves are already groaning LOL
ReplyDeleteWe downsized so many when we moved away from the smallholding - I miss some of them but no room now
DeleteAn interesting list. The library book I reserved has arrived, The Way Home, Tales from a Life Without Technology, by Mark Boyle.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed The Morville Hours, the Story of a Garden, by Katherine Swift.
I enjoyed The Way Home - several years ago now nut could never get into The Morville Hours
DeleteP.S. Had all the Derek Tangye books once upon a time. Will see if I have any here still, but I think there may only be one which I have bought in recent years. I loved those.
ReplyDeleteI've gradually read all the Tangye books over time I think - they tend to be a bit same-y
DeletePersonally I find your blog and that of Sue at Eating Well on a Small Budget equally dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThere is nearly always the temptation to go to Abe books whenever either of you mention a book though my first search is our mobile library.
Unfortunately the Mobile Library is closing at the end of July so I will have to be even more selective!
That will be very difficult because I seldom disagree with your comments if they are about books I’ve read.
Thank you for taking time to blog and share with us.
Sue
Oh no- end of the mobile is a disaster - I hope you have a library building to visit instead
DeleteI apologise. 😄
DeletePlease don't! I'm very grateful. My bookshelves groan with favourites that either you or Sue in Suffolk have introduced me to.
Delete🤣🤣
now that's a stack and a half!
ReplyDeleteIt would be - and several hundred £s to buy them all too!
DeleteThat is an impressive long list of books. Self-sufficiency (or living off the grid) is a fascinating topic. It is amazing to see how people can manage when they decide to embrace this lifestyle. Depending on how far a person wants to take it, great determination and very hard work are required.
ReplyDeleteVery hard work to live off grid. It was nearly as hard just providing all our heat ourselves - much wood cutting and hauling.
DeleteI used to follow Sally Urwin online but haven't been able to get her book, maybe not available here. I like her a lot. I know a few of these writers but I'm amazed at how many there are. Some, like Sally, married into farming, some, like James Rebanks, come from centuries of sheep farming to continue it.
ReplyDeleteSally Urwins book has very mixed reviews. I'm sure I had a copy but don't have it now - very odd.
DeleteI'd forgotten about Derek Tangye. Charlie Hart's 'Skymeadow' is worth reading, if you haven't already read it.
ReplyDeleteI've gradually been reading Derek Tangye - don' know why I didn't read them years ago.
DeleteHoly cow! That's quite a list. I guess many of us harbor secret desires to "get away from it all" given that so many books on that theme to get published.
ReplyDeleteMany people got away from it all in the 70's - it's harder now.
DeleteWoah....knowing how you feel about books that is certainly a dangerous list!
ReplyDeleteAngie ;)
Very. Must be strong!
DeleteSue, your review of the Hovel books from a few years ago is one of the sources cited in the Wikipedia entry on the books. These have been on my “search list” for a while. I always appreciate everyone’s reading recommendations here.
ReplyDeleteGood Grief - fame at last!
DeleteCan you request them from your library?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great many books of people trying to get out of the rat race. Hmmm, while I have never really been tempted to read any in the past, more and more I need to reach beyond my usual reading choices.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I have to admit that I wistfully follow people on Instagram who have taken on the rural/farming lifestyle. Were we not older and chronically concerned about proximity to medical services, it sure would be tempting!
ReplyDeleteSo many people trying to 'escape', or simply change their lives and writing about it... us and our hubby's included.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten all about the Lillian Bekkworth books, I loved them back in the day. But I never got on well with Derek Tangye's writing for some reason.
Thank you for this, and a warning: I will be adding more titles to my list!
ReplyDelete