Thomas Firbank

Bride to the Mountain is teh stroy of Anna Mary who had put her heart and soul into th erunning of Rugog before getting married. But now she worked from a sense of the land, which she loved and the farm carried her husband as a passenger. Sheep were diappearing. The faithful shepherds of Rugog had their suspicionns of who the sheep-stealers were but though they kept a careful watch they could never catch the culprits. A traveller and author then came to the valley and took a hand in the affairs. Between him and the shepherds they worked together to throw some light onto the mystery. 

Following the publication of 'I Bought a Mountain', this book describes the author's tour through Wales in the 1950's. It says something about Wales and the Welsh at a time when political moves towards the Welsh Assembly are coming to fruition.

Written on the eve of the Second World War, this memoir tells the remarkable story of how 21-year-old Thomas Firbank decided on impulse to purchase a 2,400-acre hill farm in the rugged, inhospitable mountains of Snowdonia, and how he and his wife struggled to build it back into prosperity.  The book became an international bestseller, selling over half-a-million copies worldwide and pioneered the genre of 'good life' rural escape literature. This new edition is introduced with a foreword by the award-winning nature writer, Patrick Barkham, and includes an afterword by contemporary Welsh sheep farmer, Dafydd Morris-Jones.

In this book Thomas Firbank describes his experiences of training and war in th eyears 1939 to 1945. He went from hill-farmer in Snowdonia (described in 'I Bought a Mountain') to Lietenant-Colonel in the Guards in four years. It begins in Spain from where he drives to London to help the war effort. His account of training in Scotland and North Africa is detailed and realistic, proving his extraordinary physical resourcefulness. He saw active service in Italy. Then, in September 1944, on the Netherland-German border, he descended by glider to Nijmegen. Firbank's rare first-hand account of this famous engagement is told with a wry humour and an engaging lack of melodrama. the author was awarded the Military Cross and Bar.

Log Hut describes Firbank's life living and working on Dartmoor, adapting a log cabin for his new family and his attempts to reopen and commercially mine a local quarry.