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HEREFORDSHIRE
Design tips, trends and style
BOHOBEAUTY
INSPIRINGROOMS
HEIGHTOF LUXURYIdyllic tree top getaway
COMPLIMENTARYJUNE 2018
Crafty brewingin the Wye Valley
HOPS &GLORY
COSTUMEDRAMASwimwear special
THE NEEDFOR SPEEDMeet race horsetrainer Ed de Giles
Embrace thehippie chic style
MEETTHETUDORSLaid-back luxury in aformer farmhouse
STRICTLYHEREFORD
Glitz, glamour andRichard Hammond
REGULARS
Herefordshire Living • June 2018
Front cover:designersguild.com
ContentsCONTACTS
Head of Media SalesDebra Orr01432 [email protected]
EditorialPhilippa May01432 [email protected]
Publishing ManagerCharlie Neary01905 [email protected]
Managing Director, Lifestyle MagazinesJenny Thompson07813 654596 | 01325 [email protected]
DesignAbbie Powles
Complaints – Who to contactHereford Living adheres to the Editors’ Code of Practice (which you can find at pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html). We are regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Complaints about stories should be referred firstly to theEditor by email at: [email protected]. It is essential that your email or letter is headed “Complaint” in the subject line and contains the following information: • Your name, email address, postal address anddaytime telephone number. • The title or website, preferably a copy of the story or at least the date, page number or website address of the article and any headline. • A full explanation of your complaint by reference to the Editors’ Code. Ifyou do not provide any of the information above this may delay or prevent us dealing with your complaint. Your personal details will only be used for administration purposes. If we cannot reach a resolution between us then you can contactIPSO by email at [email protected] or by post at IPSO, c/o Halton House, 20-23 Holborn, London EC1N 2JD. If complaining about third-party comments on our website articles, you should use the “report this post” function online nextto the comment.
All material used in Hereford Living is strictly copyright and all rightsare reserved. No part of this publication may be produced in whole orpart without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All pricesand dates are correct at the time of publication. Opinions expressedin Hereford Living are not necessarily those of Newsquest, and thecompany does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Anypictures or transparencies are produced at the owner’s risk. Anymention of Hereford Living or use of Living logo by any advertiser in thispublication does not imply endorsement of its products or services byNewsquest.
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70
HOMES & INTERIORS 18
FASHION 52
HEALTH & BEAUTY 58
SOCIETY 69
FOOD & DRINK 78
DIARY 92
MOTORS 94
22
www.living-magazines.co.uk
14 Chasing the racing dream
From city banker to racehorse trainer
22 Winning vision
Spectacular barn conversion voted
Sunday Times’ best B&B
28 The height of luxury
The charm of treetop life
56 Suit up
Swim in style with one of this season’s
best one-pieces
86 Polish perfection
Translating a national dish into a
Herefordshire hit
98 My Herefordshire
Judith Wills, author of the bestselling
Food Bible
HEALTH
14| Living INTERVIEW
Chasing theracing dream
Living INTERVIEW | 15
HEALLA TH
R acehorse trainer Ed de Giles is one ofthose fortunate people who is doing ajob he absolutely loves, even though it
took longer than he thought to get there.“Basically, I have wanted to do this from the
year dot,” he says, adding that he’s been passionateabout horses for as long as he can remember. “Ialways rode as a child and used to hunt and do abit of point-to-pointing.”
In the early 90s, Ed, who trains racehorsesfrom his yard at Lilly Farm in Much Marcle, gota tantalising taste of life as a trainer, working fora season for Nick Gaselee in Lambourn, wherehe trained Party Politics, the winner of the 1992Grand National. But he was acutely aware that lifeas a trainer and the owner of his own yard wasnothing but a dream if he didn’t have the financialwherewithal to make it come true.
“So I went to work in the City to get some cash,”he explains. “I had a small farm at home, but Iwouldn’t have been able to train from there, andto start training without the financial backingwould have been impossible. It’s hard enoughwith financial backing...
“As Junior Johnson (a former NASCAR racingdriver) said, ‘to make a small fortune you needto start with a big fortune’!
“I went into the City for what I thought, rathernaively as it turned out, might be five years,because it was 15 years before I decided that I’dmade enough money and packed it in.”
Ed met his wife Claire about five years beforehe left the city to realise his training dream, so didshe know what his master plan was?
“I think my best man’s speech told her,” he says,laughing and adding that that might be a slightexaggeration. “And when times are tough, shedoes remind me about that. But, yes, we did talkabout it, though talking about it is one thing, andthe reality is another...
“We bought the property while we were still inLondon and came down at weekends, half-terms
From the moment he firstsat on a horse, racehorsetrainer Ed de Giles hadone ambition. But ittook 15 years as aninvestment banker beforehis dreams were realised
Pictures: highfieldphotography.co.uk
16| Living INTERVIEW
HEALTH
and holidays while we created the foundationshere and then, when it was ready – in 2010 – wetook the plunge.
“I had a huge interest in horses and racing allalong, so when I was working in the City I ownedhorses, and had them in training with other trainers.They did relatively well – one, Markab, won theGroup One Betfred Sprint at Haydock Park in2010. Sitting in the City earning reasonable money,you want to get involved, so that’s the way we didit. We had a great deal of fun and made a bit ofmoney, but I got fed up paying other trainers whenI thought I could be doing it myself!
“When I started, a few of the lads I’d had horseswith in syndicates supported me,” Ed recalls. “Tobegin with I had about a dozen or so horses, andhad 10 winners in the first season.”
Horses in Ed’s yard are predominantly flathorses – “But I do occasionally train jumpersand there is occasionally a crossover with flathorses that can get two miles over hurdles. Oneof our best chasers, Prince of Dreams, won the
Scottish Champion Chase in Musselburgh and hewas a flat horse!
But how did Ed and Claire end up in Herefordshire?And what made Ed choose the county as thelocation for his yard? Neither he nor Claire hadany connection with the county until they movedhere: “I am from Kent and my wife is from Londonand Wiltshire,” he says. “We looked at Wiltshire,Somerset and Dorset for the right property, then afriend said he’d found this place in Herefordshireand we should look at it.
“There was an existing yard here, but run down– you wouldn’t recognise it now since we doubledit in size, bought a bit of land and put in a newgallop,” Ed explains. “We’ve got 35 boxes forhorses in training, but enough in total for morethan 40 horses, but we need 10 for broodmares,hunters and the kids’ ponies.”
Ed and Claire’s three children have four poniesand have all been following in their father’s footstepssince they were toddlers. “Alice is 15 and she firstsat in the saddle when she was three.
“My two daughters are mad keen on hunting andthey’re big into their eventing and show jumping,which is a great discipline, and they’ve startedpony racing this year.”
With a nephew, Felix de Giles, who was the firstpony racing champion in the UK, and is now aprofessional jump jockey, it’s clearly in the blood,though Claire is not as passionate about horses.“She doesn’t like them,” reports Ed, adding thatshe nevertheless adapted well to becoming a PonyClub mum!
Claire also does the lion’s share of the officework... “And there’s a lot of it,” says Ed. “But Ido the declarations, entries and jockey bookings.”
No day is the same in training, though they allstart at about 5.15am, when the horses are fedbefore the first lot are turned out at 7am, and Edoversees them on the gallops. Then, most days,it’s off racing at lunchtime. “But if we’re not it’llbe evening stables where the horses are turned outagain and we might swim one or two.” Ed’s yardhas a state-of-the-art straight equine swimming
Living INTERVIEW | 17
HEALLA TH
pool, installed in 2015, which was joined thefollowing year by a high speed treadmill.
Then it’ll be into the office for two or threehours, with a day typically finishing at 10pm. Theearly starts and late finishes are reminiscent of lifein the city, but, says Ed: “There’s no down timewith horses. It’s full on. But you don’t get bored.”
Reflecting on where his passion for all thingsequine came from, Ed says that he didn’t comefrom a particularly horsey family, though he didgrow up on a farm. “I used to hunt and point-to-point – as soon as I could get a point-to-pointerI started playing around with that. It was justa passion from the get-go. You could call thisfoolhardiness – it’s a great thing to do, but it isunbelievably hard and challenging.”
It’s skilful too – knowing instinctively what ahorse will be and how it will do is an essential partof the job. “Horses will tell you as you watch them– you see their action, what ground they like,” hesays. “Aand you learn an awful lot by seeing themon the race track – the first run may be more of an
experiment but you can tell a lot from it.” As wellas the horses in training, Ed currently has a coupleof brood mares. “Before we came down here wegot two brood mares as there was someone herewho could look after them, and started breedingfrom them. We’ve had a couple of horses we’vewon with and started breeding from them.
“It’s hard work when they’re foaling as I do itall myself, but it’s very rewarding. We’ve had acouple of rubbish horses, but that’s the thing whenyou’re breeding – you get what you’re given. Ifyou go to a sale you get what you want!”
Demonstrating just how full on life as a traineris, Ed admits that he’s had two single weeks off inthe last eight years – “I’ve squeezed in two skiingweeks,” he says, “but Claire and the children doget away in the summer.
W: eddegilesracing.com
IT’S CHALLENGING, BUTWHEN YOU’VE PLACED AHORSE IN THE RIGHT RACESAND HE STARTS WINNING,IT’S QUITE PHENOMENAL
