No Going Back: Journey to Mother's Garden

by Martin Kirby

"There's a sign hanging just inside the broad and battered front door of our ramshackle farmhouse that reads "Deu Vos Guard." On the day we bought our tiny patch of Catalonia, a new friend who lives across the valley laughingly translated it as God Help You." So begins Martin Kirby's candid and often comic account of how he and his wife, a typical British couple with two young children, give up their careers, home, and stable life in England to move to a small rundown mountain farm in Catalonia and turn it into a viable small-holding business.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kathleen Orme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book lots of information and incite into their lives recommend a good quick read

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No Going Back: Journey to Mother's Garden is the inspirational true story of Martin Kirby and his family, who left the English weather and rat race behind for a new life on an organic farm in Northern Spain.

"The Kirby family fell in love with Mother's Garden the moment they saw it: the mottled walls of Mediterranean orange and yellow; the panoramic vista of the Catalonian countryside; the patchwork land of vines, olives and fig trees. This is their account of the struggles that lay ahead, from the race against time to buy the property to the steep learning curves of speaking Catalan and running a farm. It is a funny, heartfelt memoir about an ordinary family starting over, about gambling everything and making it work."
~~back cover

A charming story, a delightful read. Nothing too serious, just a trip to follow people who actually had the courage to give modern life up for a life of joy .

[Pamela Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. The TV programme is still available to watch on Channel 4 - which I did.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be an inspiration! I would love to do the same...

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really deserves 3.5 stars. Well written, interesting account of an English family reinventing their life in northern Spain. Incredibly hard work with many funny and loving moments.