A Ram in the Well

'Access is difficult but the views are panoramic' claimed the brochure, and so it was. Living in God's Pocket was the Welsh expression for Hafod's idyllic seclusion halfway up the Denbighshire mountainside.

It was here amid fields with ancient names like 'Place of the She-Bear' or 'Graves of the Warriors' and near the ruins of Vale Crucis Abbey and the castle of Dinas Bran, that June Knox-Mawer set about replanting her roots. While facing unexpected hazards; a ram in the well, a swarm of bees in the bedroom chimney, and an owl delivered by the postman; she knew that friendships were to become the key.

Here is a vivid picture of a way of life fast disappearing, even in a country that cherishes the past as dearly as Wales