Richard Nicoll and his wife, Martha Hanks-Nicoll, live in New Salem, in a lovely house with a spectacular view. Richard is originally from the southwest of England; he finished high school and one year of Agricultural College, then came to the U.S. in 1970 and made a career out of working with horses and carriages, first in New Jersey, then in New York and Vermont, which is where he met Martha, who is originally from Sudbury. As Martha said, “My interest in horses had humble but strong foundations right here in [Massachusetts] where I belonged to the local 4-H club and later was selected for the Junior Judging Program to represent Massachusetts at the Big E.”

They first met in South Woodstock, Vermont. She was conditioning her bay mare for the Vermont 100-mile ride and waited on tables at a local inn. Richard had come to Vermont with 11 carriage horses, to a property in South Woodstock the man he worked for had just purchased. He needed some extra help in exercising the horses, and since Martha was in the area and knew how to ride, she was hired for several summers. As she said, “We usually cleaned, harnessed and put to the carriage a 4-in-hand, a pair and rode a couple of horses each day.” After she finished her degree at the University of Vermont they were married in 1975. They have two daughters, Meg, and Jenny; Jenny lives in Florence, but Meg is far away in New Zealand. There are four grandchildren.

In 1984, Richard was hired to work for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia as Director of Coach and Livestock, managing all their Livestock and Carriage programs. Martha got a job teaching art at the Matthew Whaley School, named for a 9-year-old English boy who died in Williamsburg in 1705. His mother established a free school for the poor in her son’s memory and left money for it to function.

As Richard had a lot of hands-on farm experience he turned out to be a crack fundraiser for things his program needed; when new things were built (such as better fencing) he then shared this information with the public, making sure donors knew where their contributions were going. Richard ordered a new carriage to be built in Austria; an 18th century reproduction carriage at the time cost $100,000, but he knew how good carriages should be built.

The public was invited to see all aspects of his programs, from raising rare breeds of livestock to shearing sheep — he got so into this that he cut off his own tie on one occasion.

Carriage rides in Colonial Williamsburg are extremely popular with tourists and provide a good income to the Foundation. The rides last between 15-30 minutes and cost from $10-$15 and up.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip paid several visits to Colonial Williamsburg, the last being in 2007, which was the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown. If you see photos her visit, you will see the royal couple in a yellow open coach, waving to the crowd. The coachman, in a green coat, tan breeches and a black hat, is Richard.

Both Martha and Richard were very involved in judging Combined Carriage driving events for Single, Pair, and Four-in-Hand turnouts as officials both nationally and internationally. Richard was also a Course Designer for these events and Martha was a judge. They both officiated in many different countries: Austria, Canada, England, Wales, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and the U.S. Some of these competitions were world championships. Martha is very grateful for this international exposure.

“I have met so many knowledgeable and delightful people and have had the privilege of seeing various countries and states through the eyes of those who live there,” she said. “More than a few have become lifelong friends. For this I feel so fortunate!”

If you want to look at what Combined Driving is all about you can go to YouTube for videos. I was familiar with dressage riding, but dressage driving is mind-blowingly more difficult, depending on the skill of the driver and the marathon endurance of the horses.

Martha and Richard moved to New Salem in 2016 and both joined Five College Learning in Retirement, which is where I first met Richard, and have also been in seminars with Martha. They have become good friends and are certainly people with fascinating backgrounds. We feel enriched by their friendship. Oh, and Richard is also a very good cook!