Don't believe anyone who says it's easy to grow vegetables. That's a blatant lie. Tom Hodgkinson shares his experiences of rural life: he keeps chickens, pigs, and rabbits, while his wife Victoria tries her hand at beekeeping, baking bread, and churning butter. They brew terrible beer and make delicious elderflower liqueur. Tom Hodgkinson is not a "back-to-nature" guru. He admits that simple living can sometimes be very complicated. Yet it still promises all that most people dream of: less routine, less consumption, less waste, more meaning, more fun, more zest for life. "The Beautiful Old World" is a book about the art of practical living - for anyone who has a home and garden or dreams of having one.