and she fancied Herefordshire for the great point-to-point scene.” They settled near Orleton, and Ben started his own forklift truck company in Leominster. His professional star rose, but his marriage ended; he sold the business and prepared to reinvent himself again.
Ben invested in commercial premises and, on a whim, bought the Moss Cottage pub and restaurant in Hereford. “I loved socialising and eating great food, and always harboured the idea of some sort of restaurant of my own. I guess I ran it as a lifestyle hobby that paid its own way. After all, collecting wines for the cellar, or maybe to sell on, while on trips around Europe in a racy soft top, was great fun.” By then, he had the glamorous companionship of his new wife, Helen.
THE MUSIC INSIDE
Still drawn to music, Ben built a home recording studio and started his own record label in the 1980s. “In those days you had to go through a distributor and publisher and it was a minefield of competition and people double-crossing you,” he reflects disappointedly. So he returned to industry, building another forklift company before eventually selling both the hospitality venture and machinery business.
THE DISIPLINE OF DETAIL
Now Ben’s life took another creative turn. “I’d had a Saturday job at a bespoke tailor’s. They were Jewish and I was imprinted by their work ethic and attention to detail. They did things properly. It stuck with me.” By 15, Ben’s artistic talent for painting had won him a scholarship from the Royal Society of Arts. He sold his work too, partly because his educational grant helped support his mother and sister.
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Ever the charming young rebel, Ben met his first wife after she initially denied him entry to the local Conservative Club for being ‘a scruff with long hair’. By 17, he had left the art college to finance their first child. He worked as a window blind designer and at confectionary giant Mars. “I actually quite liked packing Milky Ways,” he smiles fondly. By 19, he had saved enough for a deposit on their first house.
INDUSTRIAL INSPIRATIONS
With his gift of the gab, Ben moved into sales, first for a stapling machine company. “That was better paid and it opened my world up much more.” A customer then offered him a role selling forklift trucks. Progressing to Midlands Sales Manager, the family relocated to Herefordshire. “My wife had become a bit of an amateur jockey
THE PORTRAITIST RETURNS
“I had still been painting through my whole life, as a hobby, and selling portraits commissioned by people I had come to know.” Other characters too like wonderful depictions of The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and Hendrix in charcoal. “I yearned to make this my main income but I just couldn’t charge enough to make it sustainable.” Once more, Ben reverted to forklifts, this time concentrating on side loaders, including refurbishments.
He is now retiring from that still ongoing business, frequently a paintbrush or guitar close at hand. “I always wanted to be different to the people I grew up with. I had so much ambition.”
Having only skimmed the surface of Ben Holland’s varied life, one suspects his next project might yet be a book… I’d read it!
Words and images by Heidi Chamberlain-Jones
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
LOCAL PEOPLE BEN HOLLAND
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