Q. Growing up in Mayo, did you come from a horsey and/or farming family?

A. No. My Mum Jeannie was from Ballyclare in Co Antrim, and my Dad was from Surrey in England. They met at Art College in Belfast, and moved to Mayo in the early 1970s. The bought an old schoolhouse about three miles from Ballindine. I was born in January 1974, and my brother Jay in April 1975. We were surrounded by farms. I remember sitting on the back of a neighbour’s old work horse, and loving the grassy, outdoor smell of him.