If you’re out hacking in the Cotswolds and feel the urge for a coffee and cake, look no further.
A boutique farm shop in Guiting Power, Gloucestershire, has opened what may be the country’s first “ride-through”. Riders can stop off at The Cotswold Guy, call their orders in, and then collect them from handy shelves.
Owner Christopher Davey, who is also David Beckham’s and Simon Cowell’s private chef, told H&H horses and riders frequently pass his shop and “a few times, I thought I needed something for them”.
“The other week, I told my new business partner James, who’s an engineer, and 48 hours later, he’d knocked this up,” he said. “So there are the shelves and an automated payment system, and they can call orders to us. It’s got to be the first one in the country?”
Christopher added that there are plenty of horses in the area, and that one of his chefs is also a farrier, who changed careers owing to injury.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
“We keep joking with him, telling him he should be out there doing any shoeing that’s needed when they stop too,” he said, adding that to mark the opening of the ride-through, he offered free hot drinks for the first weekend (17-18 February).
“Everyone loved it,” he said. “A few people were still coming on Monday so we gave them free coffees too.”
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Christopher said his other branch of The Cotswold Guy, in Gagingwell, offers pizza including “The DB”, ham and pineapple, as this is David Beckham’s favourite.
Christopher will also appear in episode eight of Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen, the first of which aired last Saturday (24 February) on ITV at 11.40am.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
