A personal memoir of growing up and working on a family farm in the 1940s and 50s: a short and unique period just after the second world war when the English countryside was flourishing, but modern farming was still mostly in the future. In this time of transition many aspects of the way of life and sustainable farming practices had not changed for centuries. The author sets out to record and re-create the flavour of life in the special landscape of the Somerset Levels while setting his story in a wider context of history and ideas which may offer some insights into modern dilemmas.