What do you think?
Rate this book
Hidden Valley: Finding freedom in Spain's deep country
Paul Richardson fled the city to live on the land in a rough-and-tumble village on the edge of Europe.
Immersing himself in the culture of his remote Spanish community, he learned the traditional arts of animal husbandry and vegetable growing, wine-making and home distilling, and made bread from the rye he sowed on the stone-walled terraces of his twelve-acre farm.
In prose that shimmers with wit and sensuality, the author charts his personal route-map along a road less travelled - from urban pressures to rural tranquility , and from insecurity to fulfilment. Along the way he pays tribute to the influences that have shaped his progress - from The Good Life to Henry David Thoreau, from the 1970s pioneers of self-sufficiency to his farming neighbours in the far-flung region of Extremadura.
In Richardson's hands off-grid living both becomes an act of rebellion and a heartening proof that a simpler, better life is possible, if only we can remove ourselves from the ethos in which conspicuous consumption is a duty and success/failure the wheel on which society turns.
Hidden Valley is a glorious narrative of one man's journey towards self-reliance. Original and thought-provoking, it is also hugely entertaining.
Immersing himself in the culture of his remote Spanish community, he learned the traditional arts of animal husbandry and vegetable growing, wine-making and home distilling, and made bread from the rye he sowed on the stone-walled terraces of his twelve-acre farm.
In prose that shimmers with wit and sensuality, the author charts his personal route-map along a road less travelled - from urban pressures to rural tranquility , and from insecurity to fulfilment. Along the way he pays tribute to the influences that have shaped his progress - from The Good Life to Henry David Thoreau, from the 1970s pioneers of self-sufficiency to his farming neighbours in the far-flung region of Extremadura.
In Richardson's hands off-grid living both becomes an act of rebellion and a heartening proof that a simpler, better life is possible, if only we can remove ourselves from the ethos in which conspicuous consumption is a duty and success/failure the wheel on which society turns.
Hidden Valley is a glorious narrative of one man's journey towards self-reliance. Original and thought-provoking, it is also hugely entertaining.
- GenresMemoir
288 pages, Hardcover
Published January 5, 2023
8 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 17, 2025
I absolutely loved this book. I came to it expecting a rather standard memoir of life in the countryside, but was very happily surprised by Richardson's thoughtful musings and reflections.
As the planet moves seemingly inexorably towards disaster, reading about Richardson and his Spanish husband's move towards self sufficiency in a smallholding in Spain was a breath of fresh air. Drawing strongly from Thoreau, Richardson advocates a debt free life where you produce as much as you can for yourself in order to allow yourself greater freedom. The less you need, the less you need to earn.
He models the old fashioned virtues of make do and mend, with a strong modern sense of eco awareness. And although the book is a slice of life, ostensibly set over two different years in the valley - an early year when they first started out, and a later pandemic year, it is also a book of musings, of contemplations, of reflections on living a life that goes against the modern grain but which is also a balm for the soul in a our mass produced, consumer driven, ailing world.
The food descriptions are wonderful, as you would expect from someone who is better known as a food writer. The hard work and occasional disgustingness are not glossed over or romanticised, and the basic brutality of raising animals for the slaughter is faced head on with a whole section on the slaughter of that year's pig - which happened on site, with the processing of the body into meat and other associated products done by over the course of a very bloody, fatty messy week.
Again, I loved the book. I highly recommend it and it absolutely stands out from the crop of other rather standard Brit abroad memoirs.
As the planet moves seemingly inexorably towards disaster, reading about Richardson and his Spanish husband's move towards self sufficiency in a smallholding in Spain was a breath of fresh air. Drawing strongly from Thoreau, Richardson advocates a debt free life where you produce as much as you can for yourself in order to allow yourself greater freedom. The less you need, the less you need to earn.
He models the old fashioned virtues of make do and mend, with a strong modern sense of eco awareness. And although the book is a slice of life, ostensibly set over two different years in the valley - an early year when they first started out, and a later pandemic year, it is also a book of musings, of contemplations, of reflections on living a life that goes against the modern grain but which is also a balm for the soul in a our mass produced, consumer driven, ailing world.
The food descriptions are wonderful, as you would expect from someone who is better known as a food writer. The hard work and occasional disgustingness are not glossed over or romanticised, and the basic brutality of raising animals for the slaughter is faced head on with a whole section on the slaughter of that year's pig - which happened on site, with the processing of the body into meat and other associated products done by over the course of a very bloody, fatty messy week.
Again, I loved the book. I highly recommend it and it absolutely stands out from the crop of other rather standard Brit abroad memoirs.
March 1, 2025
A disappointing and rather dour read for me. The author writes well about the countryside and the changing of the seasons in Extremadura, but we learn little about the neighbours, local characters and daily life in the nearby town. He is obviously a foodie and very middle class and I couldn't warm to him at all. Quite a self-centred and self-absorbed narrator for my money. His boyfriend/husband must have the patience of a saint. There are much better books on the nuts and bolts of living in Spain.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews