Fifty years on the same land.
A 1782 manor, held by one family.
Ashbury House was built in 1782 by the architect James Wyatt as a hunting lodge for the Marquess of Ashbury. The land — three hundred and twenty acres of high Cotswold parkland — has been continuously grazed for two and a half centuries.
In 1974, the present family acquired the estate from the Ashbury Trust and quietly restored the courtyard yard, the indoor school and the formal lawns. We have added very little since, beyond a championship outdoor arena (1998), an equine spa (2011) and, in 2022, the discreet members' lounge above the tack room.
We do not advertise. New members are introduced by existing ones. We have, for fifty years, run a single small, deliberate yard.
The horse, the only client.
Our work is for the horse. Owners are kept informed quietly — one photograph in the morning, a brief written note in the evening, and a quarterly conversation in the lounge.
We do not run a school, a sales programme or public events on the yard. The estate exists so that a small number of horses can be looked after, every single day, to a standard we ourselves would expect.
The people who run the yard.
A small, senior team. No agency staff, no rotating juniors.
Catherine Ashbury
Third-generation custodian. Read Land Economy at Cambridge; runs the estate since 2008.
James Holloway
Twenty-six years with the British equestrian squad. Joined Ashbury from Wellington Stables in 2015.
Marisol de Vega
Olympic short-list 2012 & 2016. FEI Level 4 trainer.
Tom Marwick
Five Hickstead Derbies, two podium finishes. Coaches the estate's young riders.
A walk through Ashbury.
Four things we do not compromise on.
Quiet first.
We work without rush, without noise, and without a public-facing presence on the yard.
Individual care.
Every horse has a written care plan. No herd schedules, no batch turnout, no shortcuts.
Members, not customers.
Membership is by introduction and is reviewed annually by the estate director.
Senior people, every shift.
Every yard is led by a head groom with two decades of professional stable practice.