I Bought a Mountain

Reissue of a bestselling classic that inspired a generation of ‘good life’ nature books

‘I first saw Dyffryn in a November gale... the old house was quivering under the thrusts of the wind, and the wild, remote setting had already captured my fancy, and I will hold it till I die.’
 
So begins the remarkable story of a 21-year-old man who, with no experience in agriculture, visited a sheep farm on a near barren Welsh mountainside in 1931 and that same day bought all 2,400 acres along with its 3000 sheep for £5,000.
 
Set amidst the rugged grandeur of Snowdonia, I Bought a Mountain follows the struggles and triumphs of this impulsive but hard-working man and his every-bit-as-tough wife, Esme, as they fight to build the farm into prosperity.
 
Firbank’s writing is guileless and immediate and ruthlessly honest. His paean to the traditional, Welsh hill-farming way of life, transports you to a disappearing world, one ruled by the age-old rhythms of work, weather, livestock and a love of the land, and offers precious insights into conservation and sustainability.

Thomas Firbank (1910–2000) was a Canadian/Welsh author, farmer, soldier and engineer. He enlisted during the Second World War and was awarded a Military Cross. After his marriage to Esme Cummins ended, he gave her the Dyffryn farm. He only returned to Snowdonia in 1993 after a spell living in the Far East, and died in Llarnwst, North Wales.