Nick Somerfield and his wife live near the village of Bethlehem,
near Llandeilo. They moved to Wales in 1962.
Nick's mother's reaction
to her son moving from England:
"And then when I bought a mountain in Wales their
worst fears were realized, that their son had finally
regressed. And I always remember my mother saying to me (I
mean she was very piqued about it; she was a lovely woman,
we got on extremely well) :
[Mother] : Well, what are you going to grow on
this farm?
[Nick] : 'Well grass mother' and she said 'Well
that grows itself; you won't have anything to do'.
I have found that quite to the contrary over the last
42 years, I can assure you! And I don't think they ever
understood, really, but they were tolerant and they put up
with this eccentric son who broke away from the norm!"
How Nick went on to finance
his move:
"I came here with nothing. I came here with
fifteen hundred pounds actually and a lot of cheek; and I
always say I invented the overdraft in Wales . My poor old
bank manager from Barclays used to call me and say :
'I don't know how you can sleep at night with an overdraft
like that, Somerfield' and I'd say :
'It's alright, boy, its your money; you stay awake, I'll
sleep.'
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