Riding on the beach: plan a trip to Holkham

There’s a reason the Household Cavalry choose Holkham beach to take their horses for a summer break each year — riders can paddle, splash and gallop undisturbed for miles along the Norfolk coast. And that certainly beats a London stable and sand arena.

So if you’re tempted to organise your own horse riding holiday to the area so you can enjoy the wide-open spaces riding on the beach, the Horse & Hound team are here to help.

There is dedicated parking for horseboxes, but it is limited and in summer months gets filled up very quickly. It is less busy in winter, but the area can become waterlogged.
It is vital to check tide times before planning a visit — horses can only access the beach at low tide. A link to weather and tides can be found at www.holkham.co.uk
The beach is privately owned and the gates to the car park are locked outside core summer and winter hours.
You must access the beach from the end of Lady Anne’s Drive by following the white arrows on the marker posts. This route takes you directly to the beach and safely through the dunes and developing saltmarsh that are very easily damaged. Always return by the same route.
Once on the beach, horses may be ridden anywhere on the sand but below the high tide mark. You must not ride beyond the beach huts at Wells as it can be very busy — especially in the summer.
Riding is not permitted on the sand dunes, shingle ridges, saltmarsh or within the pines.
There is no public phone and mobile phone coverage can be patchy, so make a plan of what you will do in the case of an accident before setting off.

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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.

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