iving in the Cotswolds Olympic without a horse is, quite eventer Vittoria frankly, a waste, because Panizzon, it’s a honey pot for horsey in Italian team A heaven for Lpeople, both professional and ama- livery, loves her teur. Horses emerge elegantly from Adlestrop base attractive yards built from mellow, horsemen yellow Cotswold stone to compete at the top European competitions, as well as Badminton, gatcombe, Hunting, hacking, polo and racing, Blenheim and Salperton horse trials, not to mention the major three-day events: which are on the doorstep, and riders are drawn to the range of competition they’re all there in the Cotswolds. centres, cross-country courses and easy access to the motorway network. Catherine Austen talks to leading equestrian Olympic dressage gold medallist figures who say they couldn’t live anywhere else Laura Bechtolsheimer has an enviable set-up at her parents’ home in Ampney Photographs by Richard Cannon I fell in love St Peter, outside Cirencester in glouces- tershire. She’s now married to seven- with this beautiful goal polo player Mark Tomlinson and place‘ and its great the high-powered couple lives between there and his family’s yard near Weston- social scene birt—the area is a hotspot for polo, too, with at least four clubs, including Cirencester Park and Beaufort. Eventers, such as Olympic gold ’ medallist Richard Meade and now his son, Harry, and racehorse trainers are drawn to the hills—perfect for gallop- ing horses up—and the Cotswolds’ ➢ The eventer vittoria Panizzon, who competed for italy at the Beijing and London Olympics, discovered the Cotswolds while at Bristol University. ‘i had a friend who came from Little Rissington, and he’d invite us up to stay,’ she says. ‘i fell in love with this beautiful place, which had such a great social scene.’ vittoria, who has an italian father and English mother, was based in Hampshire at the start of her career. ‘i’d ride out and then dash up to the Cotswolds to see friends. Although Hampshire is pretty, i started to feel a little stranded there. When i reached the stage of setting up my own yard, i plucked up the courage to move to the Cotswolds.’ Her horses are at Lord Leigh’s Fern Farm, Adlestrop— new Zealand’s double Olympic gold medallist Mark Todd lived here with his family in the 1990s—and she rents a cottage in Upper Oddington. Her top horse, the grey mare Borough Pennyz, was one of the fastest around greenwich Park’s steep inclines at the London Olympics, which she says she owes entirely to Fern Farm. ‘i did nearly all her fitness work here on the hills.’ She gets another advanced horse, Merlots Magic, fit by hunting with the Cotswold. Favourite view From Rock Model’s [Vittoria’s 2008 Olympic ride] stable, you can see across to Stow-on- the-Wold and almost to the edge of the Evenlode vale Shop Stow Agricultural, the builders’ merchant. The staff are very helpful and make all sorts of funny con- traptions for me! Pub The Fox Inn in Lower Oddington Horsey place Gatcombe or Blenheim horse trials 108 Country Life, September 18, 2013 wealth-pocket status means there are in the eight years he’s been training, Charlie’s winners’ tally has plenty of potential owners to be chatted The racehorse trainer shot up to nearly 70 a season. Formerly assistant to champion trainer up. Jonjo O’neill, Richard Phillips, Tom Charlie Longsdon is one of national Hunt’s rising stars. After starting out nicky Henderson, he’s now keen to step up the quality of the horses and george and Kim Bailey all train almost at Mary Hambro’s Cotswold Stud near Moreton-in-Marsh, he moved to his aim at big races. within sight of national Hunt racing’s current yard between Over norton and great Rollright four years ago. ‘We should have 65 horses this winter and some really good youngsters— Mecca, the Cheltenham Festival. A stream of winners has flowed from Hull Farm ever since. fingers crossed, we’re going from strength to strength.’ He names Pendra, ‘i was born and brought up in the Cotswolds [near Southrop] and it was The hunting is superb; gloucester- owned by J. P. McManus, as one to watch this season. always the plan to train,’ he says. ‘it’s home, but it’s also a great part of the shire has, in many ways, overtaken world. The well-draining land and hills are perfectly designed for anyone Leicestershire now as the premier Favourite view Looking down on Cheltenham Racecourse from Cleeve Hill with horses. it’s a fairly affluent area with lots of potential owners. And its county. Midlands industrialisation has Shop Can I say Countrywide in Chipping Norton? I’m not really location is great, because there are lots of racecourses in easy reach.’ into shopping squeezed the latter’s famous grass-and- Charlie and his wife, Sophie, have three small children: Milly, aged three, hedge country hard, but the Cotswolds, and one-year-old twins Fred and Harry, who are bound to terrorise the Pub The Red Lion in Little Compton with its small woodlands and well- Heythrop Pony Club camp for years to come. Horsey place The winner’s enclosure at Cheltenham, if I’m lucky drained old turf laced with creamy stone walls, stockproof timber and neat hedges, still has space to breathe, especially in the relatively wild north Cotswold country. Gloucestershire has overtaken ‘Leicestershire as the premier hunting country The Pony Club scene is one of the most competitive in Britain—Olympic gold medallists Capt Mark Phillips’ and Jane Bullen are products of the Duke of Beaufort’s branch and Channel Four Racing’s Alice Plunkett, the only woman to have completed both Aintree and Badminton, was a member of the Heythrop branch. Livery yards with good facilities abound and tack shops such as Colne Saddlery in naunton and Mangan & Webb in Stow-on-the-Wold cater well for the credit-card-happy horse owner. Even if you don’t have a competitive bone in your body and prefer ‘happy hacking’, the Cotswolds are glorious. The bridleway network is extensive and well maintained and with gently rolling hills to canter up and quiet lanes to meander down, bees humming softly against the clip clop of hooves, it’s one of the loveliest places in England in which to ride. if you’re a visitor, one of the best ways to see the Cotswolds is to sign up for Stately Rides—upmarket riding holi- days organised by Zara Colchester and Charlotte Sainsbury-Plaice—riding between and staying in some of the most magnificent houses in the area. The term ‘horse heaven’ is heavily overused, but the Cotswolds really are. ➢ Cotswolds born and bred: trainer Charlie Longsdon on his gallops 110 Country Life, September 18, 2013 The polo player Hunting up nina Clarkin, who was born into one of the Cotswolds’ great hunting, rac- here is very special; ing and polo dynasties, is married the‘ countryside to eight-goal new Zealand polo player John-Paul Clarkin. Her parents Mark is perfect for it and Rosie vestey’s Foxcote Manor estate near Andoversford, where she lives, hosts the Cotswold Hunt’s team chase and the pack’s most exciting meet of the season. ’ ‘it’s an idyllic area,’ she says. ‘i love the rolling countryside with its hedges and stone walls. There are a lot of like- There are a lot minded people round here who share your interests. And, of course, it’s of like-minded brilliant for polo.’ nina is one of the best female polo ‘people here players Britain has ever produced. She has a handicap of four and, back who share your in 2003, she and childhood friends the Tomlinson brothers thrilled interests British polo by winning the gold Cup at Cowdray. She now has a two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth—who’s already ’ riding—so plays less at the top level, instead bringing on her hus- band’s ponies and playing on a team with her mother and sister, Tamara. She has also set up a restaurant, Soushi, in Cirencester with a couple of friends. Favourite view Looking towards Withington and Compton Abdale from the top of the farm, which is the second highest point in the Cotswolds and has a 360˚ view Shop The village shop in Andovers- ford. Brian, who runs it, is there at the crack of dawn and will do any- thing to help Pub The Wheatsheaf in Northleach Horsey place Cirencester Park Left: Jessica Abel-Smith and her working hunter, Muskateer, in Daylesford. Right: Polo player Nina Clarkin and daughter Elizabeth, two, at Foxcote, Andoversford amazing. There are also a lot of young people around; it’s very The amateur show rider social and much of it revolves around hunting.’ Jessica Abel-Smith, who works for a charity in Oxford, has qualified The free-draining limestone provides perfect going underfoot, her hunter, Muskateer, for the Search For A Star working hunter which dries quickly but rarely gets rock-hard. ‘i visited several class at the Horse Of The Year Show (HOYS) in October in their other packs last season, in that terribly wet winter, and nowhere first season in the show ring. was the ground as good as it was here.’ ‘neither of us has done anything like this before, but my instruc- tor suggested we had a go,’ she admits. ‘We thoroughly enjoyed Favourite view Looking down over the Sezincote vale from it and have amazed ourselves by qualifying for HOYS.’ Longborough, with its patchwork of coverts, grass and hedges Showing is the summer fun, but hunting remains Jessica’s speciality Shop Foundation in Stow-on-the-Wold, which sells lovely clothes and her family home, the Old Rectory, Daylesford, is in some of the best of the Heythrop’s Wednesday country.