Abacus Hidden Valley Finding freedom in Spains deep country.

ISBN: 0349144796

Author: Abacus

Paul Richardson fled the city to live on the land in a rough-and-tumble village on the edge of Europe.

Immersing himself in the culture of his remote Spanish community, he learned the traditional arts of animal husbandry and vegetable growing, wine-making and home distilling, and made bread from the rye he sowed on the stone-walled terraces of his twelve-acre farm.

In prose that shimmers with wit and sensuality, the author charts his personal route-map along a road less travelled - from urban pressures to rural tranquility , and from insecurity to fulfilment. Along the way he pays tribute to the influences that have shaped his progress - from The Good Life to Henry David Thoreau, from the 1970s pioneers of self-sufficiency to his farming neighbours in the far-flung region of Extremadura.

In Richardson's hands off-grid living both becomes an act of rebellion and a heartening proof that a simpler, better life is possible, if only we can remove ourselves from the ethos in which conspicuous consumption is a duty and success/failure the wheel on which society turns.

Hidden Valley is a glorious narrative of one man's journey towards self-reliance. Original and thought-provoking, it is also hugely entertaining.

• Hidden Valley Finding freedom in Spains deep country.
• ABISBOOK.
• Abacus.