Book excerpt: Of course I had no idea of radio programs or anything so practical in mind when I first saw the little white farm nestling against the hill, flanked by its long perfection of a barn and guarded by the huge ash tree standing between them. I was in love...with the sheer magic of the valley.... So begins this evocative account of rural life, an account so humorous and warmhearted that it is sure to be likened to James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small.