WEST Sussex is an idyllic place for Derry show jumper David Simpson (32) and his wife, British show jumper Louise (née Pavitt), to bring up their three children while continuing to compete at the highest level of the sport both in Britain and mainland Europe.

When home, Simpson plays football on a Monday, where the team is made up of fellow show jumpers and West Sussex residents Michael Duffy, Trevor Breen, Graham Gillespie and Roger McCrea, among others; Hickstead, his “home from home”, is a few miles down the road; William Funnell’s Billy Stud is a few miles away where he does a lot of business, and the children’s school is a few hundred yards from the front gate of Bridgehill Farm, David and Louise’s home.