How the famous Yorkshire village of Constable Burton became home to farm which is hub of entrepreneurial activity

Each day starts early at 5.30am but the idyllic location makes it easy for racehorse trainer Ann Duffield to bounce out of bed.

“Getting out of bed is never a problem for me,” she says. “Living here at Sun Hill where the scenery is spectacular among the glorious North Yorkshire Dales where we are surrounded by beautiful racehorses, there’s no doubt that getting up early is one of life’s great pleasures.”

Eight years ago Duffield, 57, decided to diversify her racing business and set up luxury holiday lodges overlooking the gallops.

“It’s really difficult for a small trainer who doesn’t have the backing of big wealthy owners to be able to make a big fist of training,” she says.

“We built the first four lodges and then we built more.”

Initially, there were four lodges on the site but 10 years ago, after suffering a significant financial loss after a racehorse owner failed to stick to their side of an arrangement, Duffield realised she needed to diversify her business further.

She decided to boost the holiday lettings to make up the shortfall.

“I had to very quickly pivot into the holidays in a bigger way,” says Duffield.

There are now 13 lodges, a farmhouse and two cottages available to rent at Sun Hill Farm, which can sleep a total of 72 people.

The luxury lodges have hot tubs and some even have saunas. The latest addition, which opened earlier this month, is a spa where visitors can book treatments during their stay.

Duffield also upgraded all of the toiletries to Molton Brown.

Another introduction is an Indian takeaway service for guests two nights a week after one of her horsemen completed his food hygiene and safety qualifications.

“Pradeep Bhat is a horseman but he’s also an excellent chef with experience in restaurants in London and Newmarket,” she says.

Duffield can’t put an exact figure on it but says the investment in the holidays side of the business is now “millions”.

“They’re not caravans clad in plastic-looking wood. They’re the real McCoy,” she says.

Before Covid, the holidays side of the business was operating at about 94 per cent occupancy and now it’s consistently 100 per cent as fewer people travel abroad.

“Last year was a disaster because we were only able to open for 18 weeks out of 52,” she adds.

“This year more people are discovering us because so many people haven’t been able to or haven’t wanted to go abroad with all the aggro and I think they will keep coming back.

“The additions of the sanctuary and the Indian food can only benefit our guests.

“What I strive to do is be better than all the others.”

On a changeover day for the holiday homes, there can be 14 to 16 staff as well as 10 racing staff.

But the three businesses also borrow each other’s staff.

The biggest challenge at the moment, Duffield says, is finding the right employees, but she anticipates the next biggest challenge will be rising running costs.

“Electric, gas, logs for the fires, everything has gone up by 30-40 per cent so our costs have shot up.”

The growth of the holiday lettings means that racing is now a much smaller part of the business.

Owners over the years have included former football manager Harry Redknapp, whom she describes as “one of the nicest men you could possibly meet”, philanthropist Sir Robert Ogden and Evelyn, Duchess of Sutherland, together with the Middleham Park Racing Syndicate.

“Racing was great and we were doing ok but it’s a huge financial risk, especially as my modus operandi was to buy 25 to 30 yearlings a year on spec and then I’d have to sell them, which is a huge financial outlay,” she says.

“The guy who did us that time actually did us a favour because it made us look at different revenue streams.

“I’ve made lemonade out of my lemons.”

These days, Duffield, the wife of ex-flat jockey George Duffield MBE, who rode 3,000 winners worldwide during his career, looks after up to 20 horses, a number which change at different points of the year.

The other side of the business is the sports horse fitness and rehabilitation centre, which has a water treadmill where Duffield and her team are currently pre-training eight of Nicky Henderson’s horses before they return to start their winter training campaign.

She also welcomes non-racing horses including showjumpers and dressage horses.

“They can either come for daily treatment or be residential,” she says.

Horses, and the industry that surrounds them, are very much in Duffield’s blood, as is so often the case with the sport of kings.

Born and brought up in Liverpool, Duffield’s father owned a few racehorses and ran a betting shop.

Her mother owned a nursing home which Duffield took over at the age of just 18 when her mother’s health deteriorated.

“Horses were a hobby and a big passion but they were not something I ever thought I would particularly earn a living doing,” she says.

“But I’ve always been in business, I have always liked developing things and improving things.”

When she sold the nursing home business at the age of 28, Duffield went into property development but continued to retain an interest in horse training alongside it.

She moved near Richmond when she married her Yorkshire-born ex-husband, ending up at Sunny Hill Farm in Constable Burton in 1999 when she married her second husband.

She has one grown-up son and her husband has two children from a previous marriage.

Although Duffield, who describes herself as busy, driven, determined and adaptable, says she hasn’t raced professionally, has successfully ridden in three charity events where trainers compete against jockeys.

“I raised £25,000 in total and won one and then said ‘that’s enough, I’ve done it’.” she says.

Title: Racehorse trainer and leisure entrepreneur

Education: Huyton College in Merseyside, often referred to as ‘the original St Trinian’s’

First job: Running a nursing and residential care home in Liverpool

Favourite holiday destination: Barbados

Favourite song: It used to be I will survive by Gloria Gaynor until I realised that survival was something I just needed to get on with

Favourite film: Crocodile Dundee

Last book read: From Toxic to Not Sick, by Suzanne Somers

Most proud of: Surviving in business this long – almost 40 years, building up businesses from nothing and providing people with something that is either helpful, worthwhile, joyful and/or memorable

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