Happy Birthday Levade Systems.
Mark Thompson founded the company 21-years ago.
Today it is one of the leading manufacturers of wooden stables,
ancilliary and garden buildings in the South-East.
They
supply everything from small self-contained tack-rooms to American
barns capable of housing 20 horses or even more.
While their customers are mostly concentrated in the South-East,
they have built and supplied all types of stables not
only throughout the UK but also throughout Europe, from Spain
in the south to Sweden in the north. They’ve even supplied
stables to Saudi Arabia.
“The market for stables is probably split into three,” says Mark “Top.
Stables costing up to £5,000 each. Medium. Stables costing £2,000
and over. Then there are people supplying practical, value for money stables
as good as the Medium range but at a more affordable price at around £1,000
each. That’s where we come in.”
Mark has been so successful at supplying his practical, value
for money stables – All the wood is from sustainable Scandinavian
sources – that he reckons that well over 60-per-cent
of his business comes from repeat customers and recommendations.
The surprise, however, is that he is not really an active horseman.
He prefers fishing or shooting.
About the one and only time he ever sat on a horse was at Greatstone
on Sea, near Dungeness when he was a child. Both he and his sister
went for a donkey ride on the beach. Mark ended up by going on
to design and build over 5,000 stables. His sister, Vicky,
went on to win no less than 13 National Championships and represent
Britain at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1995. She is now married
to Ian and together they run Oldencraig Equestrian
Centre in Surrey.
Today, based in Hartfield in East Sussex and employing six people, Mark
is looking forward to another 21 years providing top-quality
stabling for horses throughout the UK and Europe.
“The basic design hasn’t changed very much over the years,” he
says. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t always room for
subtle improvements and additions, an area where we have been quite innovative
and pro-active. Many of our features have, in fact, been copied by
other manufacturers which I regard as something of an accolade.
“Sometimes we have special requests. Sometimes, for example, people want
large overhanging canopies. Sometimes, they don’t. Sometimes we have
requests for buildings for a special activity. There is not much we haven’t
done over the years.
“All the time, however, we have to consider both the well-being of the
animals and their owners. That’s what we have been doing for 21
years. And that’s what we’ll continue do for
many more years to come.”
