The story of how a herd of cows helped a man cope with grief will be told in Ceredigion.

Dave Mountjoy, from Worcestershire, will travel to Cardigan’s Small World Theatre on Saturday, 25 May to discuss his book, Being With Cows.

It tells how Dave was helped through grief following his brother’s suicide by the unlikely presence of his herd of cows.

Dave has now set up a ‘cow retreat’ on his organic farm in the Pyrenees to share the ‘stillness’ and spiritual connection that helped him through the most difficult of times.

His book tells of growing up in the countryside where Dave spent a lot of time on his mum’s farm, to travelling to Uganda where he lived with the Karamojong people as part of a biodiversity operation.

Further adventures followed including a stint at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland where he met his wife, Diana. The quest for a more sustainable, value-driven life led them to the foothills of the Pyrenees where they bought their first cows and set up an organic farm. Little did Dave realise the cows would transform his life.

He observed how they could just ‘be’; their stillness and connection to their surroundings meant he also felt peace. The traumatic, and sudden, loss of his brother and the pain of grief, a pain beyond anything he had experienced before, saw him spending more and more time with the cows. With that came a much-needed sense of calm.

He founded the retreat after realising the impact cows had on him should be shared. His story of how animals of any kind can help is a powerful and transformational one - Dave calls it ‘cowfulness’, a spin on ‘mindfulness’. It taps into our ongoing quest for peace in an often overwhelming world.

To hear more about Dave and his healing herd of cows, join him at Cardigan’s Small World theatre on Saturday, 25 May, from 5:30pm-7pm.

Being with Cows is published by Bedford Square on, price £18.99 hardback.

For more information about the retreats visit www.beingwithcows.com.

Video above directed / Filmed - Tristan C. Anderson