Seasons of My Life

by Hannah Hauxwell

Hannah Hauxwell first came to the nation's attention on Yorkshire television's award-winning documentary TOO LONG A WINTER, when she captured the hearts and imaginations of millions who were captivated by her ability to single-handedly run her family's farm in an isolated area in Yorkshire. Since the age of 35, following the deaths of her parents and uncle, she lived a self-sufficient life without electricity or running water at Low Birk Hatt Farm. What most enchanted people about Hannah was that she survived sixty years of gruelling work and weather with unimpaired serenity and good humour. Her love of the countryside, her passion for animals and her appreciation of the right values make Hannah a remarkable woman and in this classic book she tells her unique and inspiring story. SEASONS OF MY LIFE is an enduring and affectionate look at rural life in a world where everything is changing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, British Literature, Autobiography

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful easy to read story of a world no longer with us. Some poignant moments. Ms Hauxwell clearly loved dogs and all animals that makes her very special to me.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another serendipity discovery from listening to a BBC books broadcast, in which one panelist selected this memoir as her choice of a good read.

It is not so much a memoir, it turns out, as a "told to" oral history by Hannah Hauxwell, who became an overnight sensation in the 1970s in Britain when her life was documented in a BBC documentary about her solitary existence on an impoverished farm in the Yorkshire Dales.

(As it turns out, we've been watching All Things Great and Small, also set in the Dales, but showing a very different environment than the one depicted in this book).

I gave this 3 stars mostly because it is not tremendously successful as a book, and in particular, it forces readers to slog through an early chapter in which Hannah describes all of her neighbors in detail, without much contextual information to make them that interesting.

Still, there was something very alluring about her story -- both her resiliency as a single woman farmer for much of her adult life, and the sadness and loneliness that accompanied her existence.

The memoir, put together by the documentary producers, show Hannah's innate kindness and sense of dignity. But it also shows how constricted her life was. The only child of sickly parents, she lost her father when she was young and had to give up any idea of further schooling to work the family farm. Her uncle came to live with her and her mother, and he was very strict with her, keeping her from forming any attachments as a young woman.

Soon, both her mother and uncle were gone, and Hannah entered middle age struggling by with one cow -- and a calf to sell each year -- in a house that had no electricity or running water and in a region that suffered through what in Britain passes for severe winters.

After the documentary, she became a minor celebrity and for the first time in her life, visited larger cities, eventually going to a fancy awards dinner in London, getting electricity in her house, and then, when the farm work became too much, retiring to a cottage in a nearby village.

As a glimpse of a bygone and somewhat harsh way of life, it kept my interest. As a person who persevered through many privations and shortages, Hannah earned my admiration, but also my pity for what her life could have been.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book claimed to be about Hannah Hauxwell's solitary dale life, but that was honestly a pretty small part of it. It was mostly about the process of making a documentary about her. It's not that it was uninteresting per se, but I wanted more about Hannah and less about the fan mail she got after the documentary, which seemed a little self-congratulatory on the part of the filmmaker (who also co-wrote this book).

[Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple story , its a small ( big ) part of not so ancient history , reminds me of neighbours here in Ireland , no running water cooked on fire. Not so long ago.

So I liked it

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful true story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Hannah Hauxwell is an inspirational woman and shows the true spirit of endurance, perseverance and humility. This was an enchanting literary adventure, wonderfully written, totally uplifting and incredibly interesting. I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

[Tim Palfreman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on one of my bookshelves, unread, for over 20 years. In the last 3 years I’ve spent a lot of time on the Pennine Way, and passed through Hannah’s Meadow at least half a dozen times. So I eventually decided it was time to read it.

It’s a beautiful book. It outlines the life of Hannah Hauxwell in the remote valley of Baldersdale, now in County Durham, near Teesdale. She lived a hard life without electricity or running water, in poverty, running a small farm. Then she became famous from a TV documentary called Too Long a Winter. Twenty years later another documentary called A Winter Too Many, catches up with her, still on her farm. Both are beautiful films, well worth watching on YouTube. Part of the joy of these films is hearing the musical lilt of Hannah’s voice, which one can then hear in her words in the book.

Despite her hard life, and an awareness of how things could have been different, Hannah presents a serene and philosophical attitude of contentment with her lot. The book is a joy, both for its depiction of Hannah, and for its description of a way of rural life which disappeared 60 years ago.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing - I cried when I saw the two videos in 1999 and cried again when I finished this. In the 70's Barry Cocroft made two highly acclaimed features, one about several families living in the remote Yorkshire Dales and the other just about Hannah who by that time was famous beyond belief, but still wedded to her solitary life at Low Birk farm, living without the amenities we all take for granted. The book fills in some of the blank spots in the videos and repeats other parts and Cocroft has added a narrative to Hannah's strong voice to fill in the blanks. In spite of accolades, many gifts and a group of supporters trying ineffectively to move Hannah to safer surroundings she remained at her farm with her beloved animals and the lovely country -- until she finally made the decision to move - that's where my tears came in. I actually recommend the videos as first choice, but the book may be easier to get a hold of.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like memoirs about people who live out in the country, on farms or in the wilderness. That’s what I thought this was. It is actually dialogue taken from a documentary from the 1970s about a woman who lived on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales by herself without electricity or running water. A film crew was sent out and spent quite a lot of time interviewing her, and this book is written from those interviews. She became quite famous in Great Britain at the time, and I think that the book was put together for her many fans to read. Mostly she talks about people that lived nearby when she was growing up that all moved away eventually or died.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember back in the early 1970's seeing this on TV & recall, being really taken with this old woman. Well, I say old woman but in truth at the time Hannah was 46 - how strange to think she was quite a bit younger than I am now !!

Hannah is certainly someone you don't forget & it was lovely to re-visit her life in this lovely little book - it's inspiring, heart-warming & heart-breaking...I'm not ashamed to say I had a lump in my throat & a tear in my eye as she talked of her mother's death.

A remarkable woman indeed.

[Summreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading Hannahs story, inspirational, the hardships she endured. I watched the programs made of her in the 70's afterwards. The bond she had with her animals was lovely and the simple life she was emotionally tied to but struggled to cope with physically especially in the winters, made me feel for her for sure. The beauty of the Dales verse the isolation, and lack of utilities in older years.

[Rick Cull · Rating 5 out of 5]

A glimpse into a lost world

They don't make them like this any more. Hannah reminds me of my grandma who raised 13 children in rural Indiana during the Depression-- grew and preserved all their food , made their clothes, kept a cow, baked their bread, lived to 94 years of age. They don't make them that way any more. Hannah's story is inspiring, sad, hopeful, tragic, but in the end, human. It reminds us of what being human is about.

[Patti Gray Dunkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very satisfying book

I came across documentaries of Hannah Hauxwelll on the internet and was intrigued. This book is her memoir and editorial notes for background of her solitary and lonely and often brutal life living as the sole proprietor of her family farm in an isolated area of the Yorkshire dales. I loved Hannah's innocent and articulate perceptions of her life.

[sarah carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book

A wonderful book not just about an amazing lady, but of a way of life that is rarely seen today. It happened in recent times, but is of an old way of life. It is about a landscape and its animals and its people, that should always be remembered and preserved for future generations.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had read this many years ago but since Hannah's recent death decided to read it again and delighted to say it is just as good second time round. A delightful book telling the story, in her own words, of het own life in the Yorkshire Dales.

[Tammie Tyndall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't imagine

Being a spoiled city dweller that I am, I can't imagine the hardships that Hannah endured. Yet, that was the life she loved and I'm sure she was very sad when she left.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah Hauxwell's life is certainly worth reading about. It's a rare look into a life that most of us could never even begin to imagine! My main issue was just the formatting of the book. It feels a bit disjointed.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a great book, I remember watching this series on television many many years ago. She is a remarkable women leave out in the back of beyond on her own.
This is a must read.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely amazing book. to think she survived with no electricity and running water for so long. such an inspiration

[Stephen Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and can only imagine the impact this had at the time the tv documentary was released. In our modern age it is hard to understand how Hannah lived in such conditions.

[Lewis Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brilliant autobiography but the co-author's writing is questionable

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting iography of a very individual lady with a determined heart but soft gentle spirit

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember the series that was on television so it was interesting to read this book.

[Marlies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this hard to read: I'm very happy that things have turned around for Ms. Hauxwell, but she had such a hard life.

[Mark waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic read . The true story of an inspirational lady and a gentler forgotten way of life

[Joanne Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I had already viewed the documentary and very much wanted to read the book. I can't even imagine such a hard life. So happy Hannah had a wonderful retirement.

[Christine Parkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing story about Hannah Hauxwell who lived in the Yorkshire Dales alone with no electricity, heating or running water. Interested to watch the TV programme now.

[Elva Paulson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming book which takes the reader back to a very different era.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book. A joy to read

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary life

Hannah grew up in a remote area in that Yorkshire Dales. Her family all passed and she continued to live there...no running water, no heat, no electricity. She was both the farmer and the farmers wife ( her words) Her animals came first, second and third to others..even herself. Great book on a different, harder life

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried to like this book, but it kept on being boring. It is like reading someone else's family genealogy, I have very little interest in someone else's family but I have a lot more interest in my own.

The author goes on and on about all of the families she is related to and how in detail. I don't care, and the writing did not make me care.

Then she goes on and on about every little geographical spot around her locale. It should have been interesting, but it wasn't. I was unable to picture anything. The lack of drawing a picture in my mind made it flat and uninteresting to me.

So I have DNF'd this book. Did Not Finish.