Review of It Wasn't Meant To Be Like This

When Andy Offer emailed me and asked if I'd like to read his memoir, a quick glance at the blurb was all it took for an immediate yes. Part of the attraction is because Brian and I lived in Salisbury in England for ten years before we returned to farm in Ireland, he was a scientist and I was a secondary school teacher. We were also restoring houses and although I freely admit if we'd stayed in England we'd either have become millionaires or gone bankrupt, we were also hankering after a smallholding life, perhaps in Dorset, Devon or somewhere in France. So reading books by those who started as smallholders or as retirees on small farms always gives me a 'might this have been us' vibe and I was intrigued to see how Andy and Frances got on. 

The front cover pulled me in too as will anything featuring a border collie. The question is - is the dog looking adoringly at Andy or is he pleading for the last drops of milk in the bottle? Some of my favourite scenes included Geri (the dog). I won't share here how he demonstrated his intelligence but it reminded me of the time when Brian was driving up to the yard across the lane, cross that Sam wasn't with him (because Sam kept the cattle in the shed while Brian foddered them) and on getting there, realised that he'd forgotten to put the bucket on the loader. Returning to the yard, there was Sam, sitting patiently beside the loader bucket as he knew it was the next job of the day. 

Many with empathise with Andy's position: he always loved farming but with no farm to inherit and dissuaded by friends, family and teachers not to go work on a farm, he became a farm advisor for over thirty years. It was later in life then that Andy and Frances bought a small farm. So many farmers will empathise with the challenges they met - trying to buy more land, renting land, running a fragmented farm, unsure about what machinery to invest in, making wrong decisions, and wondering how to maximise income. 

This book shows the upheavals and ups and downs of running a farm; of dreams blown out of the water; celebrating the wins; the importance of support from family and friends; the hard work and sometimes funny stories of selling at farmers markets. Andy shares mistakes and the benefit of hindsight. There are funny episodes such as being told an awards night was black tie but it turned out it wasn't and to add insult to injury, well, you'll have to read it to find out what happened. Arriving at the abattoir with an empty trailer was another with absolutely no sign of the ready-to-be-butchered sheep. And if I wasn't already persuaded that selling direct to customers in farmers markets and at festivals was hard work, I am now!

Whether you'd like to read about farming while relaxing by the fire on a winter's evening, you want to learn by somebody else's mistakes before venturing into buying a smallholding or a small farm, or if you are farming and want to feel glad you mostly talk to livestock rather than humans, It Wasn't Meant To Be Like This is the book for you. Enjoy.