SOMEHOW the image of a successful accountant with his own practice doesn't quite sit alongside author, history lover and farmer — to say nothing of home educator.

But the combination is all there, in the shape of Hugh Williams of Crapstone, who has just published his latest book, From Ur to Us — Everything you need to know about History.

Hugh, 66, has been distilling the many thousands of facts which can be found in his newest work for some 30-odd years.

Educated at Eton, and with an accountancy job in the city, an idyllic holiday on the island of Mull sparked a desire to turn his back on London and head west.

Hugh said: 'That fortnight was the most fabulous time and as I was leaving Mull, I was almost in tears at the thought of going back to all that concrete.'

Thanks to an inheritance, Hugh decided to go back to his roots — he was born near Launceston — and he bought a small, isolated Dartmoor farm at Lower Willsworthy, to the east of Mary Tavy.

After buying the farm, the vendor asked him to sort out her tax affairs.

Hugh said: 'After I'd done it, she said thank you — and I realised nobody had ever said that directly to me before in my work. Suddenly I realised that accountancy is about humans after all, not just figures and taxes.

'I thought if anybody else wanted to become a client, I could be open for business!'

Clients did indeed like Hugh's philosophy that his job was to make them happy, and his own practice was born, in a converted barn on the farm.

'We had a five room office up there, with six or seven people — completely in the wrong place, but it worked.

'I think people quite liked it, somebody once said to me "Do you know, the reason I come to you is because all the other accountancy firms are normal!" I took that as a compliment.'

The concrete, hustle and bustle of London far behind him, Hugh developed a small herd of Red Devon cattle — despite his limited knowledge of farming.

'I sort of knew where I was with horses in terms of handling them, but knew cows were more difficult — and I must pay tribute to the late George Mudge, who really held my hand for many years.

'But the Red Devons were great, they are easy to look after, they are pretty healthy and they make wonderful eating! They are really good for the soul'.

As if running a business from home and a farm weren't enough. Hugh and his wife, Alice, decided they would home educate their two eldest daughters.

Hugh was responsible for history — and this was really the beginning of his latest book.

'In a way I left school not knowing anything like enough about history. I feel it's a very important subject and I don't think I was taught it at all well at school,' said Hugh, who wanted to do as decent a job of teaching it to his children as possible.

'The history notes in the middle of the book are really where it all started. When I started teaching the next two children, we went from a world history point of view, which is where the first bit of the book came from. When I started making an index it ended up with more than 9,000 entries!'

The unique feature about From Ur to Us is that huge index at the beginning. Four parts then follow — world history, the story so far, is in descriptive form, and starts with Ur - the Sumerian capital where Abraham was born in 1996BC. The chapter finishes 117 pages later in 2013. A veritable whirlwind through history!

The second part of the book comprises history notes — more than 240 topics arranged chronologically using bullet points.

Part three deals with a very brief history of more than 100 countries, laid out for ease of reference.

And finally, in the appendices, are 17 lists, including those of British kings and queens, prime ministers, family trees etc.

Hugh was already an author with several books on company law and taxation under his belt, but he was unable to find a publisher for his latest work — despite some glowing comments by those who had read it, including tax consultant Brian King.

'To have somebody with an Oxford education and a highly intelligent person saying it was the most useful book he had ever come across was fantastic!

'The book is a tool really and he isn't the sort of person that would use the word user-friendly, so I like to think it does what it says on the tin, so to speak,' said Hugh, who also paid tribute to his editor, Cambridge graduate Daniel Joyce, whose hard work had been 'invaluable'.

Undeterred by the lack of offers, he has published the book himself, from his current home at Crapstone.

He and his wife Alice left the farm in 2003. Hugh said a combination of things led to the decision, including a 'hefty head butt' from one of his beloved Red Devons, and his accountancy firm moved to more 'normal' office surroundings in Plympton.

'I always say I had my retirement first, then I went out to work,' said Hugh, who will still scribble down new historical facts whenever he comes across them, no doubt to make their entry into the next updated version of his book.

'I feel history is such an important subject. My aunt, a lovely lady who died in 1977, told me some years before that her father was born in the reign of William IV — he was the monarch before Queen Victoria — just two generations back from me! said Hugh.

'My grandfather, who died in 1960, saw the funeral of a soldier who fought at Waterloo when he was growing up.

'It's things like that make you realise that history isn't really that long ago — and it's about real people.'

l From Ur to Us is available for £20 (£23 by post). Send cheque or credit card details to Freepost, RRBC-SUZR-LUBK, St Edward's Press Ltd, Yelverton PL20 7PS. Copies are also available at the Yelverton Stores.