Sarah Howard

Sarah Howard is a director of Warm Welcome Hotels, but a large part of her life has revolved around her passion for horses, equine issues and giving her time to help other people benefit from riding.

As a director of Warm Welcome Hotels, better known as The Bedford Hotel and Two Bridges Hotel, Sarah has plenty to keep her busy and it’s evident that she loves the role. She talks of the pleasure of having the ‘stewardship’ of two beautiful hotels and being part of a family business where they are fortunate to have a very stable core of staff and hotel guests who return year after year. It is extremely important to her for the hotels to be a part of the community and when asked about future plans for the hotels, her face lights up, her mind obviously brimming over with ideas. However, horses have always been part of her life and she still manages to find time outside of hotel hours to give riding lessons and work on behalf of the British Horse Society.

When Sarah was 17 her family moved to Chagford, and by that time she had already been fully immersed in the equestrian life of her mother’s training yard for many years, had four or five horses and was regularly competing in eventing. Having been a member of Staff College and Sandhurst Pony Club, she soon became involved in the Mid Devon Pony Club, taking part in national championships. At eighteen she sat her first British Horse Society exam, qualifying as an assistant instructor and moving one step closer to her ambition of teaching horse riding and funding her appetite for eventing. She also signed up with the local Young Farmers’ Club, initially as a way of meeting people, but soon found herself involved in an all-encompassing experience of community and charity activities, sporting events and travel abroad, as well as an excellent social life. In her early twenties she began lending a hand with the local Dartmoor pony drifts where she remembers meeting some wonderful characters. With all this experience under her belt, in 1984 Sarah started up Chagford Riding School, a livery competition yard, which she ran for 13 years. In 1990, her parents bought Two Bridges Hotel and then four years later her father launched Dartmoor Brewery with award-winning brewer, Simon Lovelace; the various family enterprises often pooled resources, with Sarah and youngsters from the riding school helping out at the hotel during busy times.

In 2003, Sarah and her husband, who had grown up in Zimbabwe, took the bold step of emigrating to New Zealand, which Sarah had visited during her travels with the Young Farmers’ Club. Sarah was soon successful in securing a post with the National Trade Academy in Christchurch, which specialised in training for land-based industries, such as agriculture, horticulture, animal care and equine. She taught riding at the academy and over the years she also progressed to become chief instructor of nearby Halswell Pony Club, as well as having significant involvement in updating the Pony Club manual. However, on 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, killing 185 people, injuring several thousand and causing severe damage. The event caused Sarah and her husband to reappraise the family’s future and unfortunately the couple decided to part company, with her husband leaving for Botswana, while Sarah returned to England with their three children.

In 1999 Sarah’s parents had bought The Bedford Hotel and her return to England presented an ideal opportunity for her to become more involved in the family business, which she has fully embraced ever since. Nevertheless, riding and horses were still extremely important to her; slotting easily back into her local community as if her eight-year absence had scarcely been noticed, it wasn’t long before she was ‘back in the saddle’. As a freelance instructor, she continues to work with children in the Pony Pathways group on Saturdays, and even some evenings, as well planning events and summer camps, providing an accessible point of entry for children to learn to ride and engage with ponies.

Sarah is a senior accredited professional coach with the British Horse Society (BHS). However, she is also vice-chair of the Devon branch of BHS where she focuses particularly on animal welfare, as well as the society’s education programmes for horse owners and the Ride Safe campaign. Another exciting and invaluable element of her voluntary work with BHS involves the adventurous challenge rides which take place all over the world; Sarah has taken part as a BHS leader several times to raise funds for the society’s 200 equine specialist welfare officers who improve the lives of horses, ponies and donkeys in the UK. She is also a keen advocate of Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust and its work on conservation grazing, educational events and the ‘Ponies Inspiring People’ programme. For the last three years Two Bridges Hotel has sponsored a pony called Puddy, helping to raise awareness about DPHT and its aims. Horses will always be a staple in Sarah’s world and she is a firm believer that they enrich your existence and present a great medium for learning in all aspects of life.

Rosemary Best

For more information on Warm Welcome Hotels visit www.bedford-hotel.co.uk and www.twobridges.co.uk