After her years in

domestic service, inifred Foley

married and started a family. But, while scraping a living as a
charwoman in a north London tenement, she longed for her
home in the Forest of Dean and the cherished relatives she had
left behind. Determined to give their children the rural upbringing
she had enjoyed, Winifred and her husband moved to an isolated,
crumbling cottage not far from the Forest. Yet even in the 1950s they
lacked heating or running water, and money was tight; food was
largely home-grown, and their clothes were often hand-me-downs.
It was a primitive life of hard work on the land, struggling to make
ends meet and finding strength in the embrace of a loving family.

PraISE FOR FuLL HEaRTs EMPTY BELLIES
'Captivating .. . despite the unremitting poverty, hers was the
happiest of childhoods, warm, secure and filled with love'
Daily Mail

'Enchanting ... Foley has a vivid turn of phrase . .. This book
reminds us how happiness can be found in a loving family and a
close-knit community
Daily Express