The Funny Farm - Tapa blanda

How often have you thought you might like to chuck it all in, leave the steaming metropolis and its noise and dirt behind and make for pastures new, to begin your life again?

We often talk about it but people rarely do it. Jackie Moffat is one of those who did. In 1982 she and her family - armed with a bucketload of optimism, stout boots and a highly developed sense of the ridiculous - upped sticks from London (where she'd lived all her life) and went North, to Cumbria. Their destination was the Eden Valley, and a small stock-rearing and dairy farm called Rowfoot, and there they have spent the past twenty years getting to grips with the practice of running a working farm, keeping sheep, cattle, pigs and horses, becoming part of the (often eccentric) community, coping with the ups and downs (Foot and Mouth devastated them) of farming life.

For the past ten years, the author's written a regular column for the Cumbria and Lake District Life magazine, and it was this that inspired her to write about her life in rural England and the trials, tribulations and pleasures of running a farm.

We often talk about leaving the bustle of metropolitan life behind and going in search of pastures new but rarely do so. Jackie Moffat is one of those who did.

It was in 1982 that she and her family, armed with a bucketload of optimism, stout boots and a highly developed sense of the ridiculous, bade farewell to the London suburbs and headed north up the M6 to Cumbria. Their destination was Rowfoot, a small, dairy and stockrearing farm (although mice seemed to be the only stock in evidence on their arrival) nestling in the idyllic Eden Valley. Their intention was to start leading 'The Good Life' and get to grips with the reality of running a working farm. After over twenty years of learning the rural ropes - and especially the vagaries of the farm's four-legged residents: the sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, not forgetting Millie the goat - Jackie and her farm are each going strong, concentrating on rearing Manx Loghtans, a rare breed of sheep originating from the Isle of Man.

Inspired by her column in the Cumbria and Lake District Life magazine, The Funny Farm is Jackie Moffat's funny, wise, heart-warming and at times moving account of the day-to-day trials, tribulations and triumphs she's experienced - the story of a woman at one with her life even if, on occasions, she feels completely at odds with the rest of the world!