Reasons Not to Move to the Country: One Woman's Calamitous Attempt to Live the Rural Dream

Clean air, good schools, big gardens, low stress—the whole farm-fresh, quality-assured lifestyle of the countryside seemed the answer to urban woes for Judy Rumbold and her family. But the charms of country living soon faded into a rather stark reality. Living off the land became an exercise in trying to decipher seed packets, and the homely oven quickly turned into a fire-breathing demon with an apparent personal vendetta. Rather than spending their time outside happily making catapults from twigs and fishing with jam-jars, her children instead were slumped indoors watching television, cursing the day they were wrenched away from their friends in town. Packed with humor—and plenty of regret—this memoir shows that farm living is not the life for everyone.

Judy Rumbold has written for the Sunday Times, Evening Standard, Mail on Sunday, Observer, and Guardian, and is currently a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph.