Hugh was brought up on an arable farm in Essex. He attended the Royal Agricultural University between 2013 and 2016 and obtained his BSc (Hons) in Rural Land Management. After joining Stanfords, Hugh qualified as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2019. Day to day he is involved in a variety of rural professional work including property sales, valuations, Basic Payment Scheme applications, entitlement trading and Countryside Stewardship advice.