I'm a stranger here myself: The story of a Welsh farm

by John Seymour

Book

140 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

John Seymour was an idealist - he had a vision of a better world where people aren't alienated from their labours. As a young man, he travelled all over Africa and fought in Burma in World War II. Returning penniless to England, he lived in a trolley bus and on a Dutch sailing barge before settling on a five-acre smallholding in Suffolk to lead a self-sufficient life. He continued this lifestyle with his companion Angela Ashe on the banks of the River Barrow in County Wexford, Ireland. The two had built up the smallholding from scratch over 19 years. In his last years John, Angela and William Sutherland had been running courses in self-sufficiency from their home at Killowen, New Ross. The courses were taken by students from all over the world, who come to Killowen to learn about his lifestyle and philosophies at first hand.

He was the author of over 40 books, including the best-selling The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, and he had made numerous films and radio programmes. Most of his later writing and public campaigning had been devoted to country matters, self-sufficiency and the environment.

In the last 18 months, he was back on his beloved Pembrokeshire farm with his daughter Ann, telling stories to his grandchildren and writing rhyming poetry, with an acerbic wit that was his last weapon against what he saw as our destructive era.

Reviews

[Lotte | Sprouting Wheel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally I preferred fat of the land, but still a very interesting book. It is less idealistic and more realistic which might be due to the fact that life became more hectic and strained for John and his family.

[Libbeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was the very first book I actually entered into my system of noting down books I read, way back in 1982. I can remember nothing at all about the book.
At least now I have a book journal to help jog my memory, and this site of course.
Curiosity compelled me to seek out a little information about this book and I realise I probably came across it, at the time, because of the popularity of the series "The Good Life" as John Seymour was something of a self-sufficiency guru.