Horse-friendly UK riding holiday destinations
Why pay someone to ride your horse while you’re on holiday when you could take him with you? Here are H&H’s pick of horse-friendly UK destinations for horse riding holidays and feedback from people who have been…
East
Place: Bluestone Farm
Location: South Creake, Fakenham, Norfolk
Rider accommodation: traditional farmhouse B&B
Horse accommodation: stabling and limited grazing
Cost: B&B £80 per double per night; stable £15 a night
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Gill Arnold and friends from her yard in Hertfordshire have been going to Bluestone Farm for the past three years. She says: “It’s close to Holkham beach, but not right on it, so we get a mixture of rolling countryside too. We set off cantering down a farm track and then started thinking, ‘Is this ever going to end?'”
Further information: www.bluestonefarm.co.uk
Central
Place: Home Farm
Location: Hallington, Lincolnshire
Rider accommodation: self-catering, renovated 19th-century barn cottages
Horse accommodation: stabling and/or grazing available
Cost: accommodation — £200-£500 per week. Grazing £100 per week, with stabling £190 per week
Kay O’Brien from Leicestershire has been to Hallington with her husband and children three times, and says: “The roads are quiet and any cars slow down. The wide verges are well maintained so you’re safe to canter. You’d think the area would be flat, but being in the Wolds the views are fabulous.”
Further information: www.canter-hallington.co.uk
North
Place: Auchencheyne Country House
Location: Moniaive, Scotland
Rider accommodation: self-catering holiday cottage or B&B
Horse accommodation: bedded stable and grazing
Cost: B&B £27.50 per person per night; £15 per horse per day; cottage £360-£550 per week
Di Postlethwaite, from West Cumbria, and a friend have taken their horses on holiday for the past 10 years. She says: “There weren’t miles of tracks to canter on, but it’s a beautiful area with lovely views. We explored the forestry on our first day’s riding — fabulous.”
Further information: www.auchencheyne.co.uk/holiday-cottage-horses.html
West
Place: the Brecon Beacons and Radnor Loop
Location: four-day circular 75-mile trail ride through the national park and mid-Wales
Rider accommodation: different B&B each night
Horse accommodation: grazing at each B&B
Cost: £285 per horse and rider
Pembrokeshire-based Penni Jones and three friends decided to take on the Radnor Loop in the Brecon Beacons this May. Penni says: “The sheer vastness of the place is fantastic. We did get lost a few times, but that’s all part of the fun. You need to be fit to do your horses though — it’s hard going, five or six hours in the sun for four days.”
Further information: www.breconbeaconsandradnorloop.co.uk
For the full article on UK riding holidays, see Horse & Hound magazine (1 July, ’10)
