Biography
Beeny was born in Reading, Berkshire, to Richard and Ann. Beeny has an elder brother, Diccon. The daughter of an architect for Bovis Homes, her mother loved the self-sustained outdoor life. The family lived in two converted brick cottages in a nine acre plot on the edge of the Duke of Wellington's estate Stratfield Saye, in a style that Beeny describes as "a bit like The Good Life." The family kept goats, chickens and ducks, while her father made dolls house furniture to raise extra cash: "They were crafty-entrepreneurial but more craft than entrepreneurial."
After her mother died aged 39 of breast cancer when Sarah was aged 10, she was educated as a weekly boarder at the all-girls Luckley-Oakfield School in Wokingham, where she recalled: "...we used to show our bosoms to the local builders and our mission was to snog boys." Although her friends went to university, Sarah did not and was encouraged to study drama by her English teacher, taking a leading role in Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle. Pursuing the idea of becoming a professional actress, she studied drama at Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke, but failed to get into a drama school.
Advised by her father and stepmother Trisha to get out and see the world, Beeny travelled around the world solo at the age of 17 and felt "lonely and seasick" most of the way round. She returned to the UK to take a series of jobs, including: working for Save the Children; window cleaning; door-to-door vacuum cleaner selling and running her own sandwich making business. Assuming she would be self-employed for the rest of her life, at weekends she would study the property market, which gave her a good grounding in the market. Having saved up a deposit, without any formal training Beeny began her own property developing business with her brother and her husband. Beeny is also the co-founder of the popular UK dating website Mysinglefriend,
Beeny met her husband and business partner, Graham Swift, when she was 18 years old. Her brother is married to Swift's sister, Caroline. Beeny and Swift have four sons: Billy, Charlie, Rafferty and Laurie. They have homes in Streatham, London and at Rise Hall, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Beeny supported Breakthrough Breast Cancer's Crocus Walk campaign in 2009. She has acknowledged that her own attributes in that area have played some role in her overall popularity: "I'd rather they watch for the properties, but if they watch because of my boobs, that's fine."
Read more about this topic: Sarah Beeny
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