Author and poet James Crowden tells how he left the Army in 1976 to live alongside the Zangskari people in a remote Himalayan community where silence and solitude were the hallmarks of existence.

Crowden immersed himself in a way of life that combined periods of meditation with week-long mountain festivals. It was a way of life based on Buddhist practices and traditions but facing the economic pull of a world beyond the valley. Crowden travelled down the frozen River Leh with butter traders and found the life came with a human cost.

Crowden developed a lifelong interest in agriculture and Buddhism following his visit to the Himalayas. He has worked in Dorset and Somerset as a shepherd, sheep shearer, cider maker and forester. His poetry has featured on radio and television and he is author of Dorset Man, Dorset Women, Dorset Coast and the Andre Simon Food and Drink Award winner Ciderland.

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