The Rocking Horse Shop: How grandfather's empire was built from a workshop in Yorkshire

Soon the company he founded, The Rocking Horse Shop in Fangfoss near York, is to turn out its 50,000th creation. Each horse is a treasured possession, bringing joy to a child and across generations. To Mr Dew, there’s something special about carving imaginations.

“Each horse will still be there, rocking along, long after I’m gone,” the now 74-year-old said. “Those that are old and battered, we put them back together again. They are passed down the generations, on and on. It’s very simple. There’s no complicated mechanisms, no batteries that run out. In your imagination, you can ride anywhere.”

It was for Prince Charles l that the first rocking horse was made. A sickly child, it was designed partly as an exercise machine, and partly to teach him to ride. Soon, their popularity grew, until a heyday in the Victorian era where there were more than 200 rocking horse makers in London alone.

When Mr Dew came to the craft, few makers remained. In 1976 he set out to make one, a “strange and quite ugly looking thing”, but it was to spark inspiration. He adapted and learned, taking the finished horses to shows, where he was only asked about how they were made. So he started selling the plans, and packs and accessories, growing in reputation and design.

In the early 2000s The Rocking Horse Shop was commissioned by a London artist to make a 5m horse named Big Bertie - followed by Bigger Bertie at 9m long - the largest in the world. There have been replicas of that first one for Prince Charles l, housed in the V&A Museum.

Now in a purpose-built workshop in Fangfoss, a team of 10 are at work. There’s joinery and woodwork, painting and varnishing, and carving with new owner James, who took over the business with fellow director Rebecca when Mr Dew officially retired in 2015.

Then there are bridles and miniature saddles to be made, beautifully crafted in a leather workshop; hair, manes and tails. There is a joy, said Mr Dew, to making things by hand, and over lockdown he kept himself busy making gifts for family and friends.

Last year Mr Dew collaborated with the team to produce and publish two books: The Complete Rocking-Horse Maker 2, distilling 50 years of devotion and with a lavishly illustrated manual, and Making it with Rocking-Horses, detailing the revival of the craft.

As The Rocking Horse Shop looks set to serve its 50,000th customer this autumn, Mr Dew is thankful the tradition, founded on his ideas nearly 50 years ago, lives on. His own daughters were “chief testers” for those first horses, he said, while it is “compulsory” to have one in the house for his six grandchildren, aged three to 11.

He said: “We thought we would try and get good at this one thing. It turned out to be really lovely. That feeling, to be involved with something really rather special, has never gone away.”

Finished horses, plans and packs with prepared timber and accessories all originating in Yorkshire, have been shipped worldwide to 20 countries, creating a global herd.

Mr Dew helped develop more than 18 designs, from rockers for toddlers to carved steeds for adults. For the home woodworker, he created laminated designs, easier to make and cheaper. He drew up designs for a simple chair rocker for small children, with interchangeable heads - horses, elephant, kangaroo or Pinocchio Rex with opening mouth.