Richard was born and grew up at Horton Farm and enjoyed the rugged life of a farmer’s son growing up in Shropshire. When he left school, he at first worked on the farm alongside his father before going to the RMAS Sandhurst as a TA Officer Cadet. He then joined the Regular Army and served with the 10th Bt Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Borneo and then the Light Infantry in Northern Ireland and Germany. When he left the Regulars in the mid-1990s, he again worked on the farm for a few years before joining the Police in which he now still serves. Richard remained a Reservist and has seen operational service in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2002-03. Very happily married to Louise to whom Chasing Crows is dedicated and in memory of his parents. Richard now runs the farm with his wife and three children where they run a small Aberdeen Angus herd and breed Shire Horses.