Converted stables are "a scrapbook of our life"

Horses have been an influential part of Amanda Vernalls’ life for as long as she can remember. “I have been inspired by horses as subject matter for my art since I was very little”, she explains. “I think I will always be fascinated by horses because they can be portrayed in so many ways. From a gentle image of a mare and foal, to the complete extreme of horses going into battle, as well as all the sports they are involved in. They are incredible – their bravery, strength and calmness.” 

Amanda Vernalls in the kitchen at The Dairy
Last year, Amanda, husband Richard and their two daughters, Berry and Eden, launched their new business, combining Amanda’s creativity with her love of all things equine, converting a 60-year-old horse box into a travelling exhibition shop – The Galloping Gallery. 
Having grown up with horses, it is perhaps unsurprising that Berry and Eden have inherited a passion for the equestrian life. “The girls have been very lucky to have experienced having their own ponies. Berry has been riding since she was around four, when Eden, as a baby would be at the stables with us, taking it all in.
The family’s rural idyll was somewhat interrupted when Amanda’s husband Richard, was presented with an unmissable opportunity in Dubai, flying helicopters for the Royal Family. “It was a very hard decision to go” Amanda recalls, “because we loved our life here at home”. 
Emigrating from the Herefordshire countryside, Amanda and the girls naturally gravitated towards any horses they could find. “That’s how we started following polo” she explains. “Every Friday we would pack a picnic and go down to watch the Princes playing polo. It was our new norm! And with Berry back in the saddle riding out at Desert Palm Polo Club and Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club, we were immersed in the equestrian world which is how we settled into our new life out there…. through the horses. 
“It was a fantastic opportunity and we would still be there, but I got homesick. We missed Herefordshire (which Amanda has called home, since her parents and sister moved to the county when she was eleven, to grow up in the countryside and have their own pony) and I would fly home with the girls at every opportunity.” 
Amanda’s passion for horses means that it comes as no surprise to learn that the family’s home is a former racehorse stables on a beautiful manor estate. “It was the only house we wanted,” she says, adding that it took the best part of a year to finally get the keys. “It had already been converted but we completely gutted the place whilst living in it! I knew I wanted our home to be the backdrop for The Galloping Gallery. 
“It’s a crazy canvas,” Amanda explains. “A mix of army, horses, travel, life. You walk in and it might seem random but it is genuinely a completely eclectic mix of our family life to date – we call it home!” Just how eclectic their home is becomes clear as Amanda reveals that their breakfast bar is actually part of a Lynx helicopter, from Richard’s time as an Army helicopter pilot. 

The leitmotif at The Dairy is upcycling, with many items repurposed, and everything chosen to tell the family's story
The conversion of the horse box happened alongside the renovation project of the house, with the skillset of Sandmade Designs. The two projects are characterised by the same eclectic style and commitment to upcycling and repurposing.
From the building itself to the interior design, this family home is a masterclass in seeing the potential in everything.
“My dad, when he saw it, said ‘oh, you’ve bought a village hall!’.” It is certainly true that, in terms of square footage, their living space might resemble a village hall, but in fact it has been cleverly, creatively and imaginatively zoned and decorated to create a distinctive interior which, says Amanda “is a scrapbook of our life”.
With the exception of the striking Smeg fridge freezer emblazoned with a Union Jack flag, and distinctively different wallpapers in both Berry and Eden’s bedrooms, there is barely anything in this unique home that was purchased off the shelf.

An old horse trough has been repurposed as a bathroom sink
Instead, sustainability is a watchword here, with shutters, for example, made of pallet wood, finished with hand-wrought iron closings in the style of the stables it was before, and oak floorboards re-used, sometimes as floors, sometimes as shelves!
Taking pride of place in the living area is a Collard & Collard grand piano, rescued from a friend of a friend who needed to downscale, but wanted this beautiful instrument to go to a good home. It did indeed find a good home, with Eden playing Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock’ and a variety of other greatest hits every morning before school! Above the piano hangs a find that Amanda is especially fond of – a charity find enamelled light shade, with the modern addition of a warm filament light bulb.
The Tandberg reel-to-reel player, another treasure, is out of reach, a precious memento given to Amanda by her father as a Christmas present last year. “It was part of my childhood”, she recalls, “and my dad would always say ‘mind the Tandberg’, because I desperately wanted to press all the buttons. I was thrilled when he gave it to me and now it’s my turn to say ‘mind the Tandberg’!”

One of the Galloping Gallery's popular items - a magazine rack made of horseshoes
As a self-confessed non-cook, Amanda admits that her approach to the kitchen was slightly unconventional. While she recognised the need for the essentials, including one must-have, a Rayburn range (in powder blue), and a big Belfast sink, her choice of draining board is unique – a paint-splashed former school art department desk, the splashback is part of an old washing machine and her spices are kept in a box marked ‘UK Government Explosive MOD/Army’ while a sign underneath offers directions to ‘Food Order Point’ – the popcorn maker and the toaster! 
In the bathroom, the sink is set into an old Singer Sewing machine table and there are sleepers up to the bath, with both bespoke pieces making a feature of the required copper pipework – in the couple’s en suite, the sink itself is an old metal water trough with a Champagne cork as the plug – nothing is cast aside and everything has a purpose in this unique home.
Amanda admits that only one element gave Richard pause for thought and that was when she insisted that the re-used corrugated iron shed that Aaron’s grandfather was getting rid of could be effectively re-purposed as a feature wall in their bedroom. Her instincts were right and it is a striking feature of the room, which also includes a pair of charity shop find oak wardrobes ‘which were heavily lacquered’, but now, beautifully stripped back work as a unit, joined with copper pipes as the clothes rail with left over oak floorboards from the main house used as shelves.

The feature wall recycled from an old corrugate iron shed wall
Reflecting on the evolution of the family’s home, Amanda says “Each area is whatever we need it to be. What’s interesting about this place is that, though it seems that we have an array of stuff, each area has been specifically considered to include everything relevant to each conventionally titled area whilst incorporating everything that means something to us – and we all fit perfectly in and amongst everything and each other”. 
“Surrounding yourself with things that have their own story, things that are part of your own life story, family history, having an appreciation, reworking, repurposing, things that make you smile, the unexpected opening of a door to find the unconventional within….that only comes from being true to yourself, and not settling with anything with empty meaning”.

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“The Galloping Gallery is an extension of our home.” As is The Galloping Gallery in its home from home at Warehouse 701, where you will find a supreme example of repurposing in Amanda’s piano bars – not, as you might expect, a bar where you can drink accompanied by a piano being played, but a piano that is an actual bar, with feature horseshoe wine racks, the keys replaced (turned into a piano key lamp with feature horseshoe base!) with cunning storage for a barman’s tools of the trade. 
Also on display here, as in The Galloping Gallery horsebox, are examples of Amanda’s distinctive black ink horse portraits and T.G.G. horseshoe makes, including a stylish magazine rack she is especially fond of. “The girls sometimes help out cleaning horseshoes for me!” 

The breakfast bar is created from an aircraft Richard once flew
With The Galloping Gallery horsebox converted, providing a means of exhibiting all her ideas and T.G.G. collection ready, it was time to launch The Galloping Gallery which the family did at the beginning of last summer. “We launched at Beaufort Polo Club – Gloucestershire Festival of Polo,” Amanda explains. “They really took a chance on us. We were brand new, and initially at the time of booking back in January 2019 all we had was a dilapidated 60-year-old horse box and a head full of ideas and design.” 
They were clearly a hit as The Galloping Gallery was then invited to showcase at London’s Ham Polo Club, with the fully restored and hand painted rocking horse Gulliver on his travels again. “But the biggest thrill of the year was when Cowdray Park Polo Club invited us to showcase T.G.G. at Gold Cup Final where Dubai were playing. It was incredible for everything to come back round to everything that had inspired us”. Particularly as a significant part of T.G.G. collection are the handcrafted, wooden polo ponies and hobby horses, designed and hand painted by Amanda, inspired by Berry and Eden growing up picnicking at the polo and galloping around on imaginary polo ponies. Each polo pony and hobby horse is named after some of the superyachts off which Richard has flown helicopters. “They are still my favourite out of the T.G.G. collection – they are heartfelt and I love painting them” says Amanda, going onto reveal that it was Richard who remembered the sketch she had made when she was 16, of a statue in a London museum whilst on a trip with her art college, and he suggested it as the ‘model’ for the hobby horses. 
After what Amanda says was a ‘crazy year, this year has been very different, though, as she launches her new fabric designs, a launch scheduled to take place at this year's Gloucestershire Festival of Polo in June, but introduced instead on Instagram, she continues to welcome shoppers to The Galloping Gallery at Warehouse 701. 
T.G.G. proudly donates 10 per cent of each individual item sold to The World’s Oldest Horse Charity, The Horse Trust, who, for for 30 years have specialised in providing retirement and respite for working horses and ponies. These hard-working equine public servants have served our nation in the Police, the Army or with charities who use horses to help people. The Horse Trust also provide sanctuary to horses, ponies and donkeys who have suffered from cruelty or neglect and who are in desperate need of specialist treatment or care. 
The Horse Trust are also the retirement home to horses from The Royal Mews with T.G.G. invited to attend Windsor and future events in raising awareness and funds towards the charity's work in advance equine care.
Above all, says Amanda, this is a family enterprise. “The girls and Rich really want me to do this, and together we are The Galloping Gallery.” 
The Galloping Gallery 
Thegallopinggallery.com