Raising "green" pigs and turning them into hand-cured bacon and spicy sausages has created a comfortable lifestyle for Prue and David Rudd in their rambling Victorian Gothic house on the border of Offaly and Tipperary.
The soft rolling countryside between Roscrea and Nenagh is a far cry from Foxrock where Prue grew up, but 30 years on, it is hard to imagine the couple have been anything but countryfolk. David is a keen supporter of the local hunt and Pru runs a craft workshop in the converted stables. Rearing nine children and establishing a successful business has kept them both busy over the years.
"We keep saying `when can we enjoy it' but we do really," says Prue. "I wouldn't want to do anything different if I won a huge amount of money. Our middle boy, Andrew, went to college in England with the idea of working in the business and he's the boss now. Ben and Simon are also working there." David was in advertising 30 years ago and Prue worked as a Montessori teacher when they decided to get out of the rat race. Everybody thought they were "bananas" to sell up and move down the country.
"We couldn't afford a farm, so we looked for a place on a few acres to run a piggery or a poultry enterprise or maybe a market garden," says David. "We knew nothing about pigs, but I'd been in food marketing so I recognised the unique selling proposition of not just producing pigs but also rashers and sausages. As soon as I walked inside the door of Busherstown House I got a lovely feeling - and it was within our budget. We got the house at a low price. It's hard to believe we were doing everything in the back of the house then, using the old kitchen to do it all."
Busherstown House, built of faded grey stone and smothered in Virginia creeper, belonged for centuries to the Minchin family. It was almost destroyed by a fire in 1790 and rebuilt, with the addition of the false Gothic towers and castellated walls popular in the early 19th century. Stone from an O'Carroll castle on the site was used in the present house. Unusually, there's no basement and with no central heating it can get very cold in winter, says Prue.
"It's a great house for a party and we've always enjoyed having people to stay. We used to come in and out of the windows when the children were small.
"George Minchin was very upset that he was the Minchin who let Busherstown out of the family. Later, an Australian Minchin turned up with the family tree and there on the top left corner was the name `Rudd'. It turned out that a Wexford Rudd had married a Minchin in 1710. He was so thrilled that the house was not totally out of the family." Around the corner from the gravelled forecourt is a side garden which, because of the formal arrangement of statues, probably used to be the entrance to the house. Yellow "pineapple tart" roses cover the wall. Inside, magnificent original plasterwork by an Italian craftsman in gold leaf hasn't been touched for generations, says Prue. The green drawingroom is a comfortable lived-in room with family photographs and books and sofas covered in damask and leather.
The big country kitchen to which everybody gravitates is generally full of visiting children and grandchildren. Now they have more time, Prue and David love to babysit. At the back of the house is the original stone-floored kitchen area with ancient ceiling hooks, used for storage and processing early on in the business. They grew very fond of the pigs, says Prue. "One sow I quite liked because she was bloody-minded. When she farrowed once a year, you had a battle on your hands getting her into the pen."
Growing up with Pony Club camps and with land for a paddock, equestrian sports became second nature for the Rudds. David learned to ride, got himself "a big old hunter" and went to point-to-points. "We had a wonderful period of 12 to 15 years while the children were growing up," he says.
One son, Tom, became a jockey and rode the winner of last year's Irish Grand National. Now, when his brothers visit new shops, managers connect the name Rudd with Tom and racing. Suddenly, the relationship is different, says David.
Kate, who is 23, is an amateur jockey and breaks in horses for a living. She was runner-up in UTV's Gladiators show last year in Birmingham.
"Two buses went over to Birmingham from Moneygall and we all wore `Go Kate' T-shirts. She trained here but also with the Garda Emergency Response unit in Templemore. This year, she's doing the Chicago triathlon to raise funds for Crumlin Hospital," says Prue.
The Offaly/Tipperary border is a great place to live and the people are lovely too, she adds. "If you throw a stone over the hedge, it will land in Tipperary. South Tipperary is very wealthy and there's a different social structure. North Tipperary is a place like any other where people are struggling to make a living and trying to enjoy themselves."
Prue started her creative courses seven years ago when younger family members took over the reins of the business. People come from all over the county for classes in hat-making, painting and basket-weaving. She also runs a popular course in portfolio preparation for budding art students.
"I'm a frustrated artist and this was an idea I had for a long time. My dad died and left a bit of money to do up the stables. I'm not terribly businesslike, but I get the greatest kind of buzz from the people. The paintings on the walls are all my dad's - he was an architect who had a stroke, so he painted." The stables are useful for family parties and David's 60th and some of the children's 21st birthdays were celebrated here. At their Millennium bash, the young people danced in the stables while Prue and David's friends celebrated up at the house.
The task of looking after about 120 sows and their piglets 365 days a year has been timeconsuming. Now their sons are running the business, David says he and Prue are looking forward to taking things easier. "You only have one life and you have to enjoy yourself while you can still use the bus pass."
