6 LEICESTER MERCURY TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 LDM-E01-S3 BUS3THE BUSINESS LDM-E01-S3 BUS3 TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 LEICESTER MERCURY 7THE BUSINESS

Living ladolcevitain Italy’sidyllic hillsIt would be easy to thinkeverything Michael Hobbstouched turns to gold.He’s a successful business-man with a loving family, whoshares his time between theirhome in the market town ofOakham and their property ineasternItaly.During the 25 years he spentin retail management everybusiness he was involved inseemedtoblossom.Nowhehasmoved onto anewproject with wife DawnCavanagh-Hobbs, renovatingand selling shares in amazingproperties in Italy’s LeMarcheregion, in the shadow of the Si-billini Mountains, a stone’sthrow from the Adriatic coast.Theyhave fourchildren–Cam-illa,Sebastian,TomandIndia.Speaking by phone from hismarketing and PR firm in Lon-don the 50-year-old dad-of-fourcomes over as charming andintelligent.He runs through his high-fly-ing international business ca-reer as if it were nothing out oftheordinary.In the 1980s, he worked forH&M/Hennes and in the 1990sranshopsfortheBurtonGroupbefore moving into regionalmanagement and becomingoperationsdirector.In themid-90she joinedLauraAshleyUS, as vice-president ofits American andCanadian re-tail operation, overseeing 180storesfromBoston.Thefamilyreturnedto theUKin 1996 when he became man-aging director of chil-drenswear chain Adams –which was still part of theSears retail chain that in-cluded Warehouse, Richards,Wallis and Braunstone’s Brit-ishShoe.In 1999 Sears was bought outby entrepreneur Philip GreenandtheBarclaybrothers.Michael, who then lived inQueniborough, put an £87 mil-lion deal together with privateequity firmBridgepoint Capit-al, supported byBarclays bank

to buy Adams from Green. Hebecame chief executive and anew board was bought in, in-cluding David Bernstein, whorecently became chairman oftheFootballAssociation.They went from 280 highstreet stores to a global fran-chise,designingandproducing50millionunitsayear.But in early 2005, he leftAdams looking for a new chal-lenge.“I moved into the non-execut-ive arena, becoming chairmanof a number of businesses andgetting involved in someprivateinvestment,”hesaid.Sohewentontochairoutdoorproducts chain MountainWarehouse, and bought a ‘verysmall share’ in online clothingwebsitemy-wardrobe.com.Around the same time, thefamily began looking for some-where to settle overseas. TheLe Marche region was recom-mended by friends David andLuisa Scachetti, who own theMamas and Papas babyproductchain.Yougetmoreforyourmoney in thatpartof Italy

Apassion for interiors

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DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR TOMPEGDEN TALKS TO A MANWHO HASMADE ITALY HIS SECOND HOME

PICTURE: APPASSIONATA LTD

RELAXING:Glorious poolside glamour

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LUXURY VILLA: Casa Giacomo

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SCENIC: The beautiful region of Le Marche

although it is just as beautifulasTuscany.He said: “By the time Ihadgothome my wife had booked theflights and we were there 10dayslater.”In 2005, they bought a farmwith five acres called the Giac-omo Leopardi estate in Monte-fiore dell’Aso. Originally plan-ning to live there, they insteadbuilt a four-bedroom holidayvilla – the interior was de-signed by Dawn – called CasaGiacomo, which has land-scaped gardens, pool, tenniscourt, vineyard, olive trees andviews over the mountains andsea.A total of 10, five-week sharesin the house – through anAmerican-style scheme calledfractional ownership –went onsale lastMarch.Fourhavebeenbought, with the next lotsellingfor£99,000plusanannu-al£2,700maintenancefee.Michael said the contractsand finances are done in theUK– avoiding the complexitiesof the Italian property systemand taking fluctuating ex-

change rates out of the equa-tion. Daughter India and herhusband Charlie Mauger helpwith the Italiansideof thebusi-ness, which is called Appas-sionata.Each share is owned outrightso the owner can sell, lease orrent out their weeks or evenswap themwith other fraction-al ownership schemes aroundtheworld.The family is now convertingthe farm house into a five bed-roompropertycalledCasaLeo-pardi which will share thegrounds and pool – and have aseparate private garden. Tenoff-plan shares in that go onsale in April at an initial£165,000, with a £15,000 dis-countforthefirst twosales.The family runs the showfromtheirhome in themediev-al townofPetritoli andalsohasother properties, includingtown houses and a palazzo,parts of which date back to the14thcentury.Someorallwillbeaddedtotheportfolio.Michael said: “My wife is aninterior designer with an abil-ity to take traditional designand Italianmaterials and com-bine them with modern fea-

tures as well as things like an-tiquesandlocalpottery.“She’s got a tremendous eyefor detail and design – it’s allabout creating affordable lux-ury.“The people buying are highnetworth individuals, success-ful senior executives, peoplewith younger families andgrandchildren and people whoare financially savvy, who getthe concept, and see this as apractical and sensible way ofowning overseas without run-ning the whole thing them-selves.”Most live in the UK, althoughone lives in Switzerland, andinterest is now coming fromthe US, northern Europe andScandinavia.He said: “Working within theItaliansystemhasbeenaschal-lenging as you might imagine.Working with craftsmen hashad its teething problems, butsetting up a small boutique,family-run business has beensomething we have copiedfrom the Italians andsomething we hope will emu-late a lot of those traditionalvalues.”

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LIFESTYLE:Michael and his young grandson Lucas gather olives in their grove in La Marche PICTURE: APPASSIONATA LTD

SPELLBINDING: Imagine stepping out onto this terrace every morning for breakfast. Casa Giacomo’s terrace boasts wonderful views and the gnarled olive tree only adds to the rustic Italian feel

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FAMILY AFFAIR: Dawn and Michael, India and little Lucas

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HAPPY:Michael and Dawn have found a new life in Italy

OVER the years DawnCavanagh-Hobbs, pictured,has probably renovated 20properties – including a farm-house in Queniborough – andhas also helped friends withtheirownprojects.Despite that knowledge, andan interior design qualifica-tion, she still had a lot to learnwhen it came to creatingprop-ertieswithanItaliantwist.She said: “Maybe I’ll do a fewmore projects in England, butIhavesomanyideas forwhat IwanttodoinLeMarche.“It’s soniceworkingwith thematerials over there. It washard at the start, not speakingthe language, trying to sourcethingsandnegotiateprices.“It’s abeautiful area, but I lit-erally drove thousands ofmiles sourcing the rightthingsat the rightprices, find-ing people I could trust andcould rely on to get thingsdoneontime.“The first project was quitedifficult and a little bit frus-

trating, but we’ve got a greatteamnow.“My vision was always tocreatehomeswherewhenyouwake up in the morning youknowyouareinItaly.“I pinch myself every dayand think I’m so lucky to bedoing something I love in acountryI love.”

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