An isolated stone cottage with no mains water, invaded by mice, rats and swarms of insects, a place where giant snowdrifts sever the electricity supply and all connections with the outside world... This is what Lawrence and Christine Dyer face when they start a new life up in the bleak, rocky hills of the English Peak District. Wild creatures, eccentric hill folk, uncooperative farm animals and foaling Shetland ponies all have a part to play in this relating of triumphs and disasters -- all set against the incredibly beautiful backdrop of the hills and moors with their bold crags of dark millstone grit, their secret valleys of moss-carpeted forests and clear brooks sheltering shoals of trout.