Welcome to the first instalment of the new Morning Routines series. Over the next month, I'll be talking to industry experts, adventurers, pioneers and influencers about how their morning sets them up for the day ahead.
First up is founder of Pedlars, The Goodlife Experience and countless other exciting endeavours, Charlie Gladstone. I first met Charlie at this year's Good Life Experience but I've been shopping at his Pedlar's store for a good few years now. Charlie is a down to earth and straight forward family man who calls North Wales home. Over the years, he's built up a collection of businesses including a pub, farm shop and a sideline in high end accessories for dogs. With houses in Wales, Scotland and Burgundy, Charlie is always on the go. My Friends at Best Made Co recently shot one of their catalogues in and around the Gladstones home at Balbegno, and their Hawarden Estate is the location for the incredible Good Life Experience festival. I admire how Charlie juggles his business and home life and his morning routine is a perfect example of how he manages them both at his own pace.
Here's how Charlie's mornings pan out:
"I am not what you call a morning person. Unusually for someone of my age, I can sleep until midday given the chance. But this doesn’t happen very often and so my iPhone does its stuff at around 7 and I hit snooze once, but only once. My first thought is ‘am I knackered?’ (generally) and my second ‘am I hungover? (maybe). Then I’m up and on my way.
My wife is always up by the time I make it downstairs to boil the kettle. I am not a conventional creature of habit, in that my habits only last a few months before I change them. At the moment I am addicted to nicotine so an e:cig is placed firmly in my mouth by the time I make my tea. It’s always tea first and currently in an enamel mug. We have an Aga and I heat the mug on that so the tea is still boiling when I take my first hit. I have two sugars and I think it’s this and not the caffeine that I crave. I’m checking my email as I go, of course. And maybe Instagram too.
If time allows I’ll hop back into bed to download the papers; The Guardian and Times. I’m a true newshound so I’ll probably have processed all of the newsy stuff by the time I open the papers; but having been brought up with proper newspapers I feel a need for their structure and I enjoy their opinion. My main interest in them is what they have to say about football. I love the drama of the Premier League and so devour as much as I can, particularly about Liverpool who I follow with a fervour unbecoming of a grown up. My dad took me to Anfield when I was seven and I was hooked.
I’ll also be listening to Today on Radio 4 by now and this follows me into the bathroom for a quick shower or bath. Again, I often change whether I have a bath or shower in the morning. At the moment it’s a bath; I am a clean freak unless I am camping in which case I couldn’t care less. Having been brought up in the country by parents who profoundly believed in letting us run wild, I am happiest outdoors but life doesn’t let me spend as much time in the wild as I’d like, so I head for my office just before 8:30. It's there that the coffee starts; double espresso with white sugar. The nicotine (always administered via e:cig, I haven’t smoked a proper fag for two years and never will again) and the caffeine have both kicked in by now and I am focused and ready for action.
I listen to music all day but not until I've had my first coffee. We take it in turns to choose the music in the office. I actually have three offices in different parts of the country, but in London the team all have strong opinions and so democracy is favoured. One of our team likes anything that’s melancholy and another goes for anything shouty. And I’m somewhere in between.
Breakfast happens at around 11 because I am simply not hungry before that. And then the rest of the day passes in a haze of e:cig steam, a couple more strong espressos and probably a robust helping of melancholy music."
Thanks for sharing your Morning Routine, Charlie.
Connect with Charlie:
Twitter: @thegladstones
Instagram: @chasgladstone
www.thegoodlifeexperience.co.uk
www.hawardenestatefarmshop.co.uk
www.theglynnearms.co.uk
www.themagnificenthound.co.uk
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