Mike Clark lives in Hutton Roof in South Lakeland and is managing director of Country Harvest, a Food Hall, Coffee Shop, Gift & Clothing Hall on the A65 near Ingleton. Mike, aged 58, was born in Haverigg where his parents had a newsagents and greengrocery business. Bitten by the retail bug he worked at K Shoes and also Norweb where he managed a business with a £23 million turnover. He bought Country Harvest in 2008 with business partner Gay Penn. The business, which employs more than 70 people, has its own butchery, bakery, deli and seasonal Christmas and Outdoor Living Cabins. In his spare time Mike loves horses, particularly carriage driving.

I’ve had horses all my life. As a youngster I used to show jump, my dad loved horses and would take me to gymkhanas and other events.

In 1995 I had a bad car crash which nearly killed me. It left me with a disability and meant I could no longer ride. I didn’t want to finish my connection with horses and I was recommended to go to a driving yard in Lockerbie, I did courses there and fell in love with carriage driving. The yard was looking for a business manager, I spoke to the sponsor of the business Gay Penn (we went on to buy Country Harvest together some years later) and we hit it off straight away. I became the business manager and also taught there for a couple of years, then I realised I couldn’t continue because I couldn’t physically do what the job required.

I became the manager of Farfield Mill in Sedbergh and also bought my horse George (Thorneyside the Foreman), who became national private driving champion and also champion at Horse of the Year Show for private driving. It was the first time in history that a horse had won both championships in a year. It’s only been achieved once since.

Then my horse Beau (Newydd Beau) became national private driving champion in 2016 and two years later was the overall reserve champion at Horse of the Year Show. I have my horses produced at a yard in the south, between us we have had national champions in the Welsh Breeding A, B & D sections. I now have a section C horse Pepsi (Ewyn Pepsi) and this is his first proper year in championships.

I have my horses produced as I do not have masses of time, but I have the greatest pleasure in seeing my horses perform at the highest level. Nothing is better than going to the Royal Welsh Show with a Welsh horse and winning. It’s an amazing feeling.

When I visit the producers I will go out and ride. I am hoping in the future I will find more time and go back to driving the horses myself. It’s what I trained for.