The Shephards’ is a professional model of country house rental. They themselves do not host – for good reason, says Mark.
“You see it a lot, where the owner is also the events manager and the salesperson. Meeting the owners is nice for a meet and greet, but I think people renting [somewhere like this] want to be dealt with incredibly professionally. You want that sense of it being a family business, but you don’t necessarily need the lord and lady showing you around.”
With only 100 acres of parkland surrounding the house, Hedsor is necessarily the centre of the Shephard universe. Mark considers their relatively small plot an advantage rather than disadvantage since there is no option to rely on the land to bring in an income.
Having recently watched the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm, Jeremy Clarkson’s behind-the-scenes Amazon show, he’s glad not to have a farm to contend with too.
“I can’t imagine what it is like to be in that business. You’re rolling the dice the whole time – if you’re lucky you get a six one year, and then the next six years you could get a one.”
Of course, he says, those who own much, much more land than 100 acres are “incredibly lucky, but at the same time they’re just a blip. Someone will own [those estates] for 30 to 40 years, and then hand them over to the next generation.
“For one moment in time, that person looks like they’re incredibly wealthy, but they’re never going to sell anything – or at least they try not to – and then they hand it over to the next generation.
“It’s a funny world: most of these owners are tremendously cash-strapped and just trying to hold on to the place for dear life – but at the same time, they’re in a Land Rover driving around their acres. It’s a very lucky job.”
