Shepherds delight for Simon!

SIMON Ray always knew he’d need an extra revenue stream. He didn’t realise how simple it would be to fund it.

Simon and his family had diversified their own lives by moving from central Edinburgh to a smallholding 15 minutes away in the Pentland Hills. The property’s stable block, riding arena and 30 acres of grazing was ideal for their horses and they’d soon established a commercial livery yard.

“But we knew the income wouldn’t be enough,” says Simon, “so we decided on a glamping business. We looked at chalets and pods but fell in love with shepherd’s huts.”

So Simon contacted Norfolk firm Black Sheep Shepherd’s Huts and chose five units – but “we needed to fund them without tying up our cash or assets. They recommended some finance companies and it became immediately clear Rural Asset Finance was head and shoulders above the rest.”

Simon had suffered bad experiences getting his farm mortgage (“firms kept saying it wouldn’t be a problem, but it always was”) so was adamant that for the huts, he needed a lender he could trust. As soon as he spoke to Rural Asset Finance CEO Matthew Smart, “I loved his whole approach – he knew what he was talking about, understood what we wanted to do and could get things done simply and quickly. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling Rural Asset Finance would make it happen.”

They did. Matthew arranged a hire purchase facility secured on the new huts themselves, split into two parts: a refinance of the first hut they’d just bought, to replace Pentland’s cashflow, and a second facility to fund 90% of the purchase price of the other four huts – fixed over five years to enable accurate budgeting of the site outgoings.

“Matthew was a breath of fresh air,” says Simon, “We’re pleased with the rate and love the fluidity. When there were hurdles, RAF always offered a simultaneous solution. Matt might say ‘our credit team need this, but we can satisfy it doing this’. When he said we’d get the funds in the afternoon, Black Sheep called confirming they’d received the money to go ahead. Rural Asset Finance did everything they promised, exactly when they promised.”

Simon hopes his huts will accommodate visitors from April and is planning a further five. He also intends to buy pig weaners to fatten and sell the meat directly to farm shops “or offer our guests sausages and bacon”. And he has another diversification plan, to buy 500 photovoltaic panels with RAF’s help.

Whatever happens, he knows how he’ll fund it. “Rural Asset Finance just ‘gets’ what we’re doing,” says Simon, “They go above and beyond. They understand, they’re friendly, efficient, they find solutions and everything’s inhouse. I feel they’re on my side.”

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