It stood on the Shropshire Plain, a long way from the sea. It was Roman-hot in summer and freezing in winter when the fields were lashed by rain that swept in from the Welsh hills, which brooded along the horizon a few miles to the west.
The slow-moving River Roden - a tributary of the mighty Severn - ran through grandad's fields, and various brooks and culverts drained into it. During wet winters the river could flood but never as seriously as in the years before grandad took over the farm. Back then hundreds of acres might sit under sullen brown lakes from January to March.
The reason matters improved so much was because grandad made sure the Roden was comprehensively dredged every five years. He encouraged neighbouring farmers to do the same.
There were penalties in doing this. For a start, it was very expensive. Also, there were trout in grandad's stretch of the river and he let the fishing rights to a club. This useful source of income dried up in the season after dredging.
Wildlife was affected too. You could see kingfishers along the Roden but they would disappear after dredging, along with other species. But it had to be done.
Flash forward - flash flood, rather - to today and the benighted folk who've been under water in the Somerset Levels for a month, with precious little relief in sight.
Grandad didn't like losing fish from his river and as a keen ornithologist, he deeply regretted the departure of some of the most beautiful species of birds in Britain
Responsibility for keeping this vast area properly drained was handed to the Environment Agency nearly 20 years ago and since the day it took over it has deliberately abandoned the long-standing policy of dredging its rivers.
Why? Step forward Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater. He says the agency's bosses are "a bunch of townie do-gooders and twitchers", adding: "They think the Levels should be allowed to return to the swampy wilderness they were in the Middle Ages and all in the name of managed flood risk."
The MP accuses the agency of "having its priorities all wrong", spending £31million on a bird sanctuary but not the relatively modest £4.5million needed to dredge the rivers. Instead of protecting farmland, he says, they're spending their money (i.e. our money) on wildlife and conservation projects.
Grandad didn't like losing fish from his river and as a keen ornithologist, he deeply regretted the departure of some of the most beautiful species of birds in Britain.
But he had his priorities straight. It was his job to produce food. His cattle had to have meadows to graze in and he had to have fields to plant corn in.
If he were alive today he would regard those running the Somerset Levels flood prevention programme with something between sheer amazement and outright contempt.