ROCKFIELD Studios has been tightly woven into the unique fabric of Monmouth since being founded in 1963, and alongside its sister studio Monnow Valley Studios, has hosted sessions by an ever-expanding list of famous artists and bands. But what of the history of the buildings before the studios?

Retired journalist Suzanne Hunter has spoken to the Beacon about her childhood memories, when Rockfield Studios’ Amberley Court was a house and horse-stable fit for royalty, and when Monnow Valley Studios’ Old Mill House was filled to the brim with hunting trophies. She recounts how as a child she saved Princess Margaret from potential injury, and witnessed a few big game trophies escaping from Old Mill House down the river Monnow.

Before the farmhouse at Rockfield Studios was converted into a studio, it was a house and stable block owned by the Macartney family. Horse training was in their blood, as Sybelle Macartney was the sister of horse trainer Fulke Walwyn, who had a famous trainer son known by the same name.

In the late 1930s, the Macartneys were in the process of training and selecting two ponies to be sold to the Royal Family, for use by the late Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, later to be our Queen Elizabeth II. It just so happens that Suzanne Hunter, whose parents were good friends with the Macartneys, shared an exact birthday with Princess Margaret.

And so it was Suzanne’s job to test ride some of the ponies to see which would best suit the princess, and in the process may have saved Princess Margaret from an unruly horse. Suzanne said: “The Macartneys were friends of my parents, they saw a lot of each other, so I was approached to try a few of the ponies. I remember riding one in particular, a grey Arab mare, which bucked me rather too frequently. I was frightened to death, as she bucked and bucked.

“She was very lively, and I was thrown over her head on numerous occasions. But of course I suppose that my bruises saved the Princess from getting hurt!

“A month later, I was not particularly thrilled when my father brought me a pony, and I discovered that Mrs Macartney had sold me that same pony at a knock-down price.

“Well, not very knock-down, but cheaper than the King would have paid for her! I must say it certainly taught me to ride better, as throughout her life that pony never did stop bucking.”

Suzanne also recounted a story about Old Mill House, which now functions as Monnow Valley residential studio. It was a house owned by an eccentric Colonel, filled to the brim with hunting trophies.

She said:

“It was owned by Colonel Charrington and although these days it’s frowned upon, back then people went big game hunting. The Colonel would go on shooting exhibitions, and

his house was filled with a hunting collection with various trophies.

“But one day the river Monnow flooded, and I remember watching lion, tiger and elephant heads and parts floating away down the river. It was definitely a time when I wish I had a camera.”

Suzanne Hunter worked at the BBC for 16 years as a writer and researcher, originally working for the programme This is Your Life. Later, Suzanne moved with her husband to the Bahamas and was deputy editor for the Bahamas Handbook, writing from 1975 until 2005, when she returned to the Monmouth area.