- Hardcover: 223 pages
- Publisher: John Murray; 1st edition (5 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0719555876
- ISBN-13: 978-0719555879
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.2 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,354,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Europe > United Kingdom > Regions > Wales > North Wales
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
'Access is Difficult but Views are Panoramic', proclaimed the brochure, and so it was. 'Living in God's Pocket' was the Welsh expression for Hafod's idyllic seclusion halfway up a Denbighshire mountainside. Amid fields with ancient names like 'Place of the She-Bear' or 'Graves of the Warriors' and near the ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey and the castle of Dinas Bran, June Knox-Mawer at once fell under the Celtic spell that entranced Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge. After years in Arabia and the Pacific, it was here that she set about replanting her roots. While facing unexpected hazards - a ram in the well, a swarm of bees in the bedroom chimney, an owl delivered by the postman - she knew friendships were to become the key. There was Will who braved the snow at Christmas to carry a freshly plucked turkey up to Hafod on his pitchfork, Megan, an avid collector of local lore, who knew the way to remote haunted barns and long-lost witches' cottages, her 90-year-old mother, matriarch of the valley, confiding her gossip of chapel scandals and courtship rituals, and the impassioned Dr Ivor declaiming George Borrow's Wild Wales. Some days there might be a summons from gloriously eccentric Philip Yorke, the last squire of Erddigg, to share a Chinese take-away in the ramshackle servants' hall. There were also regular excursions to Llangollen market in the Why-Walk bus. Helpers appeared from nowhere - most notably Idwal of the Red Beard who built 69 steps up the mountainside single-handed, Huw Half-a-Day, and the burly Griff-the-Boots who could fell a tree with the same zest he had for throwing a quarrelsome Englishman in the river. In A Ram in the Well, June Knox-Mawer gives us a vivid picture of a way of life fast disappering, even in a country that cherishes the past as dearly as Wales.
About the Author
June Knox-Mawer was born in North Wales and is the author of five travel books and three novels. She is also well-known as a Radio 4 broadcaster, originally with Woman's Hour, since then presenting a wide range of features and documentaries. She and her husband live in North Wales.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found June's account of her search for and discovery of a peaceful haven for herself and her family within the community of North Wales beatifully written. The writer shows integrity and sensitivity to the homeland that she clearly loves and had missed. Her love of the cottage and descriptions of the people within the community that she befriends and who warm to her are described with respect, sensitivity and insight.
I found this book almost poetic. June's skill as a writer is to bring each individual character alive with her empathy and understanding of them. Her love and connection with the cottage, landscape and community is powerful and moving. A lovely book, memorable.
I found this book almost poetic. June's skill as a writer is to bring each individual character alive with her empathy and understanding of them. Her love and connection with the cottage, landscape and community is powerful and moving. A lovely book, memorable.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I came across this book through my mother who lives just a few valleys away from 'Hafod'. She spent a large part of her childhood growing up in a cottage just down the track, and has fond memories of many of the characters portrayed, and of the house in question.
I found the book easy to read, and extremely enjoyable. Maybe it does paint a rosier and more 'olde worlde' view of that part of Wales than is actually the case, but it didn't strike me as being pretentious, and speaks of the local community with such fondness that I think they must surely be proud to have been portrayed in such a way. As for the nicknames, having watched Ivor the Engine with Jones the Steam, I feel sure that these are real, if not names that are generally made known to people outside the local community.
Overall the book is full of the 'feel good factor', all-be-it tinged with a little true to life sorrow at times. A really good read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A light and enjoyable read
I found this an entertaining and light-hearted book with characters well-drawn and very true to life. It reminded me of James Herriott and Gervaise Phinn books. Read more
Published on 25 May 2001
totally unbelievable
I was born and brought up in the area this book purports to be set in and hardly recognised anything genuine. Read more
Published on 9 April 2001
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