Suzie Fletcher

This week my guest is Suzie Fletcher, a Master English Saddle Maker and the resident leather expert on BBC One's The Repair Shop. Originally from Oxfordshire she has been in the restoration and repair industry for over four decades. She is an avid rider since early childhood, which lead to her career in saddle making, leather goods and leather furniture making. Through various commissions Suzie was offered a position in America and she soon found herself running her own business and working all over the US. Suzie specialised in designing and making saddles for the female rider and settled on a homestead farm on the Eastern plains of Colorado with her husband Rob and a collection of horses, dogs and cats. Her life all changed in 2013 when her husband passed away after a short illness. Suzie returned home to the UK and soon found herself in front of cameras for a new BBC program called “The Repair Shop” alongside her brother Steve.In this episode we discuss Suzie's memoir, "The Sun Over the Mountains" in which Suzie writes about overcoming some of life's most difficult challenges, from complicated relationships to grief. She talks about how putting these experiences down on paper became an incredibly cathartic exercise and how her work as a master-saddler and her love of animals have brought her immense healing over the years.Feels Like Healing is a show where I talk to individuals about how they've used creativity as a way of helping them heal.These conversations are here to show how we find comfort and solace through the act of being creative and how creativity can help us all reach a place of healing.::You can connect with Feels Like Healing on Instagram / Twitter / Facebook @flhpodcastProduced / Edited by Al LewisTheme music by Al Lewis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.