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Sally Urwin and her husband Steve own High House Farm in Northumberland, which they share with two kids, Mavis the Sheepdog, one very Fat Pony, and many, many sheep. Set in a beautiful, wild landscape, and in use for generations, it's perfect for Sally's honest and charming account of farming life. From stock sales to lambing sheds, out in the fields in driving snow and on hot summer days, Diary of a Pint-Sized Farmer reveals the highs, lows and hard, hard work involved in making a living from the land. Filled with grit and humour, newborn lambs and local characters, this is the perfect book for anyone who has ever wondered what it's like on the other side of the fence. 'I am going to do the whole bloody lambing. I'm going to lamb all the lambs. I imagine myself lean and strong, with thin thighs, in attractive waterproof overalls, striding through the lambing shed like I own it. I spend the rest of the evening searching through eBay for waterproof trousers, short leg, size 14, that don't look like a pair of plastic bags stitched together at the crotch.'
Ever dream of leaving the city behind? Sally Urwin did and this is her memoir of abandoning urban comforts for love -- and an apartment for a sheep farm in Northumberland, England. Sally and her husband, Steve, run High House Farm -- in use for generations and set in a beautiful, wild landscape. In a fresh and funny voice all her own, Sally tells the story of the shepherding life with two kids, Mavis the Sheepdog, one very Fat Pony, and many, many sheep. From lambing to harvest, in driving snow and on hot summer days, Diary of a Pint-Sized Farmer reveals the highs, lows and hard, hard work involved in making a living from the land. Filled with grit and humor, eccentric animals and local characters, this is the perfect book for anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to pack up and find a new life on the other side of the fence.
One woman’s humorous memoir about leaving the corporate world behind for life on a northern England farm with her whole family. Ever dream of reinventing yourself and starting over? Sally Urwin did. Even though her feet don’t quite reach the tractor pedals, this city-girl-turned-shepherd found happiness and love with one husband, two kids, grumpy rams, ewes and lambs, Mavis the Sheepdog, and a very fat pony. Once employed to market the insolvency services of a large accounting firm, Sally along with her husband, Steve, now run High House Farm in Northumbria. Built around 1840, High House is a working farm where the whole family (including two children) pitches in. In a fresh and funny vo...
From high heels to welly boots - one woman's misadventures in becoming a farmer, raising a family, and making a living from the land. Twenty-five years ago, Sally Urwin was living in a tiny flat in the city with a high-pressure job. She was utterly miserable, suffering from depression and longing for a different life. When she met and married farmer Steve, she imagined herself wafting around in floral dresses followed by a bevy of rosy-cheeked children. The reality is quite different... Sally is usually wearing a jumper covered in sheep poo and bellowing at Mavis the collie to stop chasing Gladys the grumpy pony, her kids are moaning about being dragged outside, while Sally is caring for a e...
Emma Mitchell's richly illustrated and evocative nature diary tracks the lives of local flora and fauna around her home and further afield, and shows how being in the wild benefits our mental and physical wellbeing.
How often have you thought you might like to chuck it all in, leave the steaming metropolis and its noise and dirt behind and make for pastures new, to begin your life again? We often talk about it but people rarely do it. Jackie Moffat is one of those who did. In 1982 she and her family - armed with a bucketload of optimism, stout boots and a highly developed sense of the ridiculous - upped sticks from London (where she'd lived all her life) and went North, to Cumbria. Their destination was the Eden Valley, and a small stock-rearing and dairy farm called Rowfoot, and there they have spent the past twenty years getting to grips with the practice of running a working farm, keeping sheep, cattle, pigs and horses, becoming part of the (often eccentric) community, coping with the ups and downs (Foot and Mouth devastated them) of farming life. For the past ten years, the author's written a regular column for the Cumbria and Lake District Life magazine, and it was this that inspired her to write about her life in rural England and the trials, tribulations and pleasures of running a farm.
From high heels to welly boots – one woman’s misadventures in becoming a farmer, raising a family and making a living from the land. Sally Urwin was living in a tiny flat in the city with a high-pressure job. She was depressed, surviving off rescue remedies and wine, and longing for a different life when she met and married farmer Steve. Returned to the rolling hills of Northumberland, a place she’d adored as a child, Sally imagined herself wafting around High House Farm in floral dresses followed by a bevy of rosy-cheeked children. The reality is quite different… Sally is usually wearing a jumper covered in sheep poo and bellowing at Mavis the collie to stop chasing Gladys the grump...
** 'BEAUTIFULLY, SKILFULLY TOLD WITH REAL TENSION AND GORGEOUS CHARACTERS, HUMAN, ANIMAL MOVED ME TO TEARS... REMARKABLE' - RUSSELL T DAVIES ** A deeply moving debut about one family's struggle to find connection in a rapidly changing world, Human, Animal is an ode to the wild, a journey of self-discovery and a hopeful path to common ground. Since the death of his brother, dairy farmer George Calvert has fought to keep the family business afloat. Worried about the future but resistant to change, he refuses to face the reality of his failing farm, his elderly mother's declining health and his troubled relationship with his youngest son, Tom. Newly returned from university, Tom isolates himsel...
A guide on the practicalities of starting your own microbrewery; from how to brew right through to finding a place of your own
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