If wishes were horses
For keen riders seeking their dream property, it pays to have a little horse sense, says Flora Watkins
AS a horse-mad little girl growing up in London, Mia Woodford had to make do with hacking round Hyde Park Corner before school. ‘All I ever dreamt of was a pony in the paddock,’ she recalls.
Today, as she stands in the kitchen of Long Hoyle, her tile-hung house in the village of Heyshott, West Sussex, she can watch the family’s horses grazing in the five-acre field beyond the swimming pool. It’s the set-up she’s always craved, since the days of devouring the Pullein-thompson sisters’ pony stories.
‘We’re at the foot of the South Downs and the riding is incredible,’ she enthuses. ‘You don’t have to go on the road at all. The crossroads at the end of our lane is the centre point of the Chid and Lec’s [Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt] country—there are about a dozen meets you can hack to.’
Equine vet Jo Hales’s ‘dream property’ incorporates ‘the best bits of my clients’ yards with our beautiful farm’, in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire. For Mrs Hales, who events and hunts—the latter often sidesaddle—that means indoor and outdoor schools, heated tack and rug rooms, a covered horse-walker and light, airy stables. ‘In reality,’ she laughs, ‘I leave my horses out 24/7, as I don’t have time to muck out.’
A little further west, it’s north Wiltshire and south Gloucestershire that’s ‘the only place to be’ for riders, declares Rupert Sturgis. In his spare time, Mr Sturgis, a partner and head of Knight Frank in Cirencester, can be found leading the field following the Duke of Beaufort’s hounds (he’s in his 14th season as field master) alongside his wife, Beanie, a four-star event rider. For the less-experienced rider contemplating their ‘first move’ to the country, the important thing, he counsels, ‘is to concentrate on the fundamentals’.
Most owners will have a fantasy wish list—a solarium, treadmill, covered horsewalker and so on—but ‘none of this is necessary,’ he says. ‘The main thing to get is something that’s manageable: good, draining land, nice hacking and good connections, because whether you’re going to a Pony Club rally or an international competition, you’ve got to drive, so you don’t want to be trying to get the lorry around narrow lanes, scratching it and breaking wing mirrors.’
The Cotswolds will always be a great draw for riders, because of the rich pageant of equestrian activities on offer. ‘We’re very spoiled,’ says Mr Sturgis. ‘There’s hunting, polo in the summer, Pony Club and lots of eventing,’ including the Sturgis family’s own Knight Frank Dauntsey Park Horse Trials in July. With so much going on, there’s a ‘wonderful grassroots base of people— it’s very family-orientated and friendly’.
Louise Harrison, associate director at Savills Rural Agency, concurs that choosing the right area is paramount, to take advantage of the great ‘social scene of riding’.
‘The key to finding your own horsey heaven is to keep it manageable’
Hunting and Pony Club are great ways to meet people if you’re new to the area. The rider’s search should also, she advises, be ‘house-led’, with at least one acre per stable or horse.
Mrs Harrison urges buyers to register with an equestrian agent, as, at the higher end of the market, many secluded period houses with land and stables ‘are sold privately, before ever coming to the open market’. An equestrian agent will also flag up any issues arising from this sort of property.
‘A sand school is very useful,’ continues Mrs Harrison, ‘but if you’re in an AONB, it can be difficult to get planning permission for floodlights’—something to think about if you want to work your horses throughout the winter.
Although larger properties may meet the criteria for ‘mixed use’ status (and the Stamp Duty flat rate of 5%), they could also attract business rates, which have increased recently. It’s all to do with the proportion of stables to the house—again, an equestrian agent can offer advice.
The key to finding your own horsey heaven is to keep it manageable. Be realistic about how much maintenance it’ll need. An all-weather manège sounds bliss in the depths of winter, but the sand will need weeding and harrowing and the fence posts creosoting.
Back in West Sussex, Mia Woodford discloses that she rents the yard and paddocks around the house, ‘so we don’t have to worry about any of the upkeep, such as electrics, muck removal and haylage deliveries’. Long Hoyle—which is only for sale because the Woodfords’ daughter
has changed schools, with Knight Frank’s Haslemere branch (01428 900023) at a guide price of £1.395 million—comes with an annexe that does brisk business on Airbnb.
‘The income pays for the rental, all the horses’ food and a freelance groom,’ says Mrs Woodford. There’s possibly only one view more charming than that of your horses from the kitchen window and that’s horses that you don’t have to muck out yourself at 6am.