Ronaldo is our new baby.  He is a very large, very handsome “Clydesdale” horse.  He comes from Scotland via Cheshire and Devon and after such a long journey he’s enjoying a little rest. He will soon be up and about learning to become a carriage horse for the hotel.

He already has a lovely, quiet temperament and we feel sure that he will make a wonderful addition to our rather eclectic collection of horses, ponies and antique carriages. He is about 17hh and the biggest horse we have ever owned. We have had to adapt a few things to fit him and Sark’s farrier has had to order in special shoes as he has the largest feet on Sark!

The Clydesdale breed was developed from Flemish stallions imported to Scotland and crossed with local mares.  The first recorded use of the name “Clydesdale” for the breed was in 1826, and by 1830 a system of hiring stallions had begun that resulted in the spread of Clydesdale horses throughout Scotland and into northern England.   The first breed registry was formed in 1877.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Clydesdales were exported from Scotland and sent throughout the world, including to Australia and New Zealand, where they became known as “the breed that built Australia”.

Why not ask to meet Ronaldo, our new baby, this summer?

Peter Guille is an independent, self employed, furniture designer/maker, based in Hampshire.  His company is called Bespoke Green Oak.  Peter works with sustainably sourced local English timber to create all sorts of things including: furniture, joinery, outdoor structures, sculptural installations and pieces of art.

Peter is also proud to be a Sarkee and can trace his ancestry back to the original Sark settlers of 1565, when Queen Elizabeth I granted Sark as a fiefdom to a Jersey man called Helier de Carteret.

One of Bespoke Green Oak’s flagship small products is the BGO Natural Bird Box.  These are made from smaller off-cuts of green oak.  We have recently taken delivery of a bird box at Stocks and mounted it on the old east gable of the main building.  The box is currently awaiting its first tenants; which could possibly be a family of Blue Tits who have been seen nesting under some nearby eaves.

Peter’s website can be viewed here.