BLESSED ISLE

The story of the author's life in Ireland, where he has lived since 1978. He paints a picture of its landscape, stopping along the way to discuss aspects of the region's complex history, economics and traditions. But above all, his Ireland is peopled with a variety of Irish personalities.

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John Seymour has spent most of his life either travelling or working on the land. As a young man, he served in Ethiopia and Burma with the King's African Rifles, and on his return to Britain ran self-sufficient smallholdings in England and Wales. He has written or co-written nearly 30 books, including "The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency" and "Far From Paradise". This is the story of his life in Ireland. Having already made the move from Suffolk to Pembrokeshire in 1961, from his first misty view of the "magic mountains" across the sea he was hooked by the "western isle". In 1978 he left Wales to make his home at Killowen, near New Ross in County Wexford, where he has lived ever since. In the book he paints a picture of the landscape of southern Ireland, stopping along the way to discuss aspects of the region's complex history, economics and traditions.
Above all, his Ireland is peopled with a variety of Irish personalities - Billy Rackard, the hurley-player-turned-stableowner; Jimmy Walsh, the prong-man; Bob Roche, landlord and expert bodhran player - and is the scene of many adventures, such as regular rowing expeditions up the Rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir, and the whiskey-fuelled musical "raiding parties" to Wales.