About four years ago, my wife and I were hiking in the Austrian Tyrol. We were at about 6000 feet and were looking for a hutte to have a snack. As we approached one, we could hear music. Sitting on a bench in front of this small wooden hut was an old man, probably in his eighties playing a harp and singing.

He was the owner of the hutte and his wife ran the catering side, such as it was. There was no road access, only a rough track, leading up from the nearest road, which must have been several miles and thousands of feet distant.

Next to the hutte was the milking parlour and the cows were grazing in the meadow alongside. The couple appeared to have lived there forever and sold some of their milk products and a few cakes.

Being so remote, there were not very many visitors, even in the high summer but sitting round were about a dozen hikers, like ourselves. Everyone, apart from us must have been Austrian or German and they understood and knew the songs that he was singing - some of them must have quite bawdy, judging by their reaction. It seemed that in the winter, they lived on their own and in the summer, his wife sold snacks and he played and sang to anyone who would listen.

It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever experienced.