Savvy’s Yard: How We Grew Our Online Business

Magazine :: Everything Horse :: Sponsored Content

This month we are joined by the business founders of Savvy’s Yard, an e-commerce website selling equestrian homeware, gifts and more. Husband and wife, Adam and Tracey Brownlow got in touch to tell us how life changed and their business began, after the purchase of a mare that Tracey initially thought was unsuitable.

Tracey wrote:

My name is Tracey and here’s our story of how I and my husband Adam grew into an online business. We began as a social media blog back in 2017 writing about the restoration of our 18th-century cottage, our first home which we shared photos and updates of how we were progressing. As the blog progressed over time the blog soon included our adventures with Savvy, our young and cheeky handful of a mare. We shared our tales of the ride outs from home and soon on to our British eventing experiences.

My mother taught me to ride from a young age and since then I’ve always had a horse. With a horse out of action, I was keeping an eye out for my next friend. I saw Savvy’s advert online and kept ignoring it as I knew I didn’t want a mare, especially a young one. The advert was poor, there was no price and no picture. A few weeks passed without me seeing anything of interest. I kept seeing the advert shouting out to me and I couldn’t work it out, it wasn’t what I wanted yet somehow there was just something about it. I had to phone the owner and arranged a visit.

Upon arrival she was still rocking her winter body and turning up I still thought this isn’t the horse for me, a fresh young mare who was recently broken in. She a 16.2, bay mare with a white stripe on her head and one white sock. After introducing myself to Savvy the owner took her up to the school to be lunged before I had a ride on her, you could see that she hadn’t done much at all and was still a baby. However, from the moment I sat on her I knew she was going to be an amazing horse. After trotting and cantering around I asked if I could jump Savvy, the surprised owners face said it all as she hadn’t been jumped since she was backed around 6 months previously. My experience told me Savvy had something special about her. She trotted around, locked on instantly and jumped like a dream.

I came away very positive yet confused as to why I wanted everything I didn’t initially want. I wanted her but I left it for a week or so and returned for a second visit. I just had to check and reaffirm my belief she was the horse for me. She was perfect again, just as amazing as the first time. Sold!

I bought Savvy in 2016 when she was 4 years old, the same year I and Adam got engaged. We were on the lookout for our first house and after quite a hectic ordeal of purchasing our home we finally ended up with the perfect house in the summer of 2017. Set in the countryside of Somerset, off the beaten track sits our perfect little home. Getting the keys for the first time and walking through the door into an empty house, we knew we had a challenge on our hands of how much work was required but nothing prepared us for the months of hard graft that ley ahead. The house itself was down a long overgrown natural grassy driveway. It sat in an overgrown garden with peeling paint and rotten windows yet we saw massive potential. At the bottom of the garden is a double stable and small paddock beyond there. The garden was an ideal size too, big enough to make something pretty but not too big that we would be slaving away every weekend to keep on top of it.

We completely gutted the house, new wiring and plumbing throughout. Some walls were freshly plastered and a complete over-hall in the kitchen including a new roof exposing the oak beams above. We inherited some English elm wood from my family farm, wood that had been stored for almost 50 years and is now very hard to get hold of. Deciding to make the most of the wood Adam handcrafted a Tv stand and our rustic live edge coffee table. We posted a picture on our social media pages of the table situated in front of the inglenook fireplace where it lives. The response we had was amazing, a post that at the time was our most successful. Our followers’ comments were very encouraging and we even had a follower ask us to make a bespoke table for them. We continued making some of our own items to compliment the character of our cottage including the kitchen holder we now sell from our website. Again, the response was fantastic and gave us the idea to maybe sell the items we made. The opportunity seemed too good to miss and Savvy’s Yard was created.

At Savvy’s Yard, we love everything equine and country. Our tagline is “inspired by horse and country living”, and from our background, it’s not hard to see why. From our previous experiences, we have combined our knowledge and skills to create a unique collection of gifts and homeware taking inspiration from living in the countryside and riding horses. The vintage kitchen roll holder is one of our earliest products. Made in our workshop it has a cast iron frame mated to an oak piece of wood and finished with the Savvy’s Yard logo branded on. The exclusive kitchen roll holder can be found in our country gifts collection, our unique selection of country-inspired homeware. Our ranges also include Horse gifts, the perfect gifts for horse lovers from top-level riders to the happy hacker. It features our very own “Savvy” the horse doorstop. A Sturdy and stable animal doorstop that looks just like Savvy, a friendly home accessory ready to be adopted into your home.

The range continues with Horse jewellery, an irresistible collection of horse jewellery. It includes those “must-haves” for your jewellery collection such as our ever-popular snaffle bit bracelet and necklace. Made from sterling silver and 14K gold plated it’s a sassy addition to compliment any outfit.

From our friendly family run business to our fun social media Savvy’s Yard has something for everyone.

Suzanne Ashton

Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.