Four Fields, Five Gates

Out Of Print... Two hours' drive westwards from Birmingham and Manchester is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Facing Cardigan Bay is the huge mountain, Cader dris (The Chair of Idris), just under 3000 feet above sea level at its peak, and on its northern edge is the long estuary of the river Mawddach. It is between Dolgellau, Bontddu, Barmouth, Fairbourne and Tywyn. In this spectacular topography was born a dream for three resourceful young women during wartime Britain. They searched the area for an old house which they could repair. They found it. This is the third book John Jones Publishing Ltd have published on a similar theme. Thomas Firhanks famous 'I Bought a Mountain' described a tough determined young man, a novice making a success of sheep-farming in the shadow of Snowdon. The second, 'Hovel in the Hills', gave us a sensitive account of the disillusion of two young people from Bristol who recovered themselves in the bare landscape near Betws-y- Coed. 'Four Fields, Five Gates' is also in the spint of H.D. Thoreaus 'Walden'. It describes an experiment in living. It enacts a search for the authentic and true, for needs rather than wants. Written with style and precision. beautifully observed, this book offers an image of escape, a calming experience. It is a respectful tribute to a magnificent and unspoiled landscape and to the culture of the Welsh people who lived - and live - there.