Published on 1st December 2025

I was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and had a wonderful, if somewhat privileged childhood. My parents had moved there from London and my dad served with the British South African Police. I lived there until I was 12, when we were forced to leave during the Rhodesian Bush War. I remember learning all the best places to hide in the house, in case we came under mortar attack.  

My parents were permitted to leave with only 1,000 Zimbabwean dollars. Everything else they had worked for was taken. This proved devastating for my parents, who divorced within a year of our return to England. My dad had forged a second career as an author and historian, so moved to South Africa. I stayed with my mum, living at my grandmother’s house in south London and attending school in Peckham. However, I was a brattish teenager, often playing one parent off against the other. So, there were times when I travelled to South Africa to stay with my dad instead.

I joined a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) as an administrator, aged 16. Finding that I lacked secretarial skills, I tried to become a beauty therapist, but was hopeless at that too. Short of options, I walked into a recruitment agency in Wallington and asked if they had any jobs available. A man at the desk said, “Yes, you can work here!” That shaped my entire career.  

I had a natural talent for sales, as I was comfortable talking to all kinds of people. My mum soon joined the business too, as she had HR experience, and we worked well together. We were so successful that the company fired us, as we were earning too much commission. They thought that by cutting us out, they could take our clients. However, we set up our own recruitment agency in Croydon and rode the crest of a wave in the late 1980s. Everything was going well, but it all came crashing down during the recession in the early 90s. The business collapsed, leaving us both without jobs and with huge debts. Bailiffs repossessed our cars and furniture, and some revelled in telling me that I wasn’t cut out for business. 

It took a long time to recover from this failure. I moved to South Africa with my young family, and worked at my sister’s cabaret restaurant in Johannesburg. It was a time of political upheaval and we were always at risk of robbery and violence. But working in hospitality with my sister was fun and we loved coming up with ideas to boost trade. When my daughter, Giselle, contracted meningitis, I decided to return to England so she could receive better medical care.  

I split from my husband soon after returning to England. Pregnant with my third child, I had to move into temporary accommodation to avoid being made homeless. I remember that it had two deckchairs for seats in the living room and water dripping down the walls. However, the Council soon found us somewhere nicer in Sutton and life slowly improved. In Rhodesia, my parents had run discos for troops. So, we started doing that to make money, hosting discos while we also made plans to launch another recruitment business.

A friend of mine owned a car parts business and let me use a desk in a corner of their office, from where I ran PDS Personnel, specialising in recruitment for financial services. As I had no money for childcare, I rotated working very long days with my mum, so one of us was always at the end of a phone. We ploughed money from the discos into advertising and recruited new candidates and – when the market became more buoyant – business picked up.  

We started receiving calls from nursing homes, who often needed staff at very short notice. Healthcare doesn’t operate from nine to five, and we found that by putting in the hard hours, we were filling a gap in the market. We applied the mantra that if you can buy a pizza at any time of the day, you should be able to find a nurse too. So, we called ourselves Ambition 24, representing our around-the-clock service. It was tough, as we were often on the phone at 3am, working like dogs. But that was how we became a leading healthcare recruitment agency and the fastest growing company in the UK. 

To my great surprise, I was honoured with an OBE. I was incredibly proud, not just for me, but for my mum and everyone who believed in us when things were tough. Despite the success, I’ve maintained a fear of failure. We had been through good times before, but you never know when your luck will run out. The impact of past experiences has never left me and – even now – I try to convey that to my children. Never take your eye off the ball. 

I took a risk by moving Ambition 24 to South Africa. I didn’t feel that we were adequately protected as a business in the UK. There were instances of former staff members taking our data and contacts to start their own agencies, and the litigation was draining – emotionally and financially. Initially, the move had a negative impact on the business, but it has had long term benefits. In the UK, increased regulation and bureaucracy means that the cogs can turn very slowly, which is frustrating when nurses and care workers are needed quickly. By moving outside the UK, we can respond to the needs of clients more efficiently.  

One day, I visited Benguela Cove in Cape Town with my second husband, Nick. He loves boating and had heard it was a good place to launch from. It is the most beautiful spot, overlooking a lagoon, so we bought a holiday home there. When the estate’s owner died, the future of Benguela Cove was uncertain. It had huge potential, with planning permission for 124 plots, so we decided to buy the entire estate. That might sound like the action of a good entrepreneur, but all it proved was that I was terrible at due diligence! 

It transpired that some plot owners were taking legal action against the developers, as promised facilities – including a restaurant and winery – hadn’t been delivered. We inherited a litigation nightmare! I was advised to cut my losses and sell it on quickly. I did the exact opposite...

I met a winemaker called Johann Fourie (below) and he explained the estate’s true potential. Johann was making wines for KWV, a leading wine-co-operative, using grapes from Benguela Cove. Hearing him speak so passionately,  I knew we needed him working for us, creating wine with our own label. Some in the industry were snobbish about our ambitions, saying it would take decades to establish a leading brand. However, we’ve won many awards and Benguela Cove is recognised as one of the finest vineyards in South Africa.

Having bottled our grapes, the next challenge was selling our wine. We took over a restaurant that had closed on the site, and opened another called Benguela on Main, where the kitchen team was led by Jean Delport, now our Michelin-starred chef at Leonardslee. Since then, we have embraced wine tourism in South Africa, running tours incorporating tastings, accommodation, restaurants and a wide range of entertainment.  

There is an opportunity to achieve something similar here in the UK. We have a huge wine economy, yet when it comes to wine tourism, this country is late to the party. When we first explored the possibility of creating English sparkling wines, we booked a wine experience at a Kent vineyard, but it was nothing like the sophisticated experiences we were offering in South Africa, or those that wine enthusiasts can embark on in Australia, America or France. England is way behind the curve and is only now striving to catch up.

We searched for a country house in the south of England where we could plant vines and sell wine. It needed to have lots of parking space, preferably catering facilities, and a liquor license too. We bought Mannings Heath Golf Club in 2016, with the intention of offering both golf and wine experiences. Our primary motivation was to create a cellar door for our South African wines in the UK, but Johann was excited by the prospect of creating English sparkling wine too.  

A few months later, I stumbled across Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, which had been on the market for some time. I called my son, Adam, and told him to meet me there, as I couldn’t believe such a place existed. It was wild and beautiful, but had been abandoned and it’s future was bleak. Yet there was a magic about it. I said to Adam, “Look at all these wonderful rhododendrons. Just imagine what we could do with grapes here!” 

We had no idea how much work needed to be done before it could open to the public, 10 years after it had last closed. We had to learn about ecology and conservation, catalogue rare plants, find lost footpaths, renovate the historic manor house, open a restaurant, restore the dolls’ house museum, refurbish the café, build new propagation areas, lay a new car parking surface, erect wallaby enclosures, and find a way to keep roaming deer herds away from our newly-planted vines! It was new territory and it took us a while to appreciate what we had taken on. I remember Nick telling me that it would cost “millions” to bring it up to modern standards, and I accused him of being pessimistic. Even his obscene estimation was far, far lower than what we have actually spent to date at Leonardslee! 

We planted Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Pinotage at the two sites, in Leonardslee and Mannings Heath. We planted the first vines in 2017 and released our first wines earlier this year. The climate is very different to South Africa and we’ve had to evolve our methods of winemaking, but the quality has been excellent. We have also developed our own distinctive branding. The logo features a swallow, representing our roots in South Africa and the UK. Already, our wines have been met with critical acclaim (the Brut Reserve 2021 was named among the UK’s top 50 by WineGB 2025) and we are now working with a major distributor, which could potentially lead to global markets. I do believe the Leonardslee brand is going to go from strength to strength.

Perceptions of English sparkling wines have shifted dramatically and some of the finest now bear comparison to Champagne. Traditionally, English wines have only sold domestically, but overseas demand is rising and Leonardslee wine was served at the British Embassy in Paris this summer, as they celebrated the King’s birthday. 

Our focus is on creating a tourism experience that incorporates wine education and great hospitality. I’ve always felt that no single facet of the estate can survive on its own, but by combining accommodation with restaurants, gardens, wine tours, golf and various events and activities, they can complement one another and create a special experience. People love our wine tours as we use golf carts and even perform a sabrage (ceremonial act of opening a bottle with a sword), so our events are fun. We want to normalise the tasting experience too, moving away from the pomposity of wine-tasting. 

Adam has lived and breathed Leonardslee and I couldn’t manage without him. He continues to push on and we recently submitted our masterplan application, which will include an extension of the clock-tower area and a new reception to improve the visitor experience. It’ll probably represent as much work again as what we’ve carried out over the past eight years. His efforts allow me to continue to front the A24 Group, as we explore exciting new opportunities in America. 

My youngest daughter Tilly operates much of our South African business, while Bonnie is a midwife and my other daughter, Giselle, is considering leading Ambition 24’s Australian operations. If I could go back in time and give myself one piece of advice, it would be to have had more children, as they’ve been wonderful. Thankfully, my grandchildren are growing up fast, so hopefully they’ll be joining the team soon enough...

 WORDS: Ben Morris/PHOTOS: Alan Wright 

Further information:  For more details about Leonardslee and the Benguela Cove Estate, visit: www.leonardsleegardens.co.uk and www.benguelacove.co.za