A landlord who has created a luxury “pony-parking” area outside his pub admits he “ended up going a bit overboard”.
Richard Mawson, who owns The Kellbank, Cumbria, first saw an idea online of a pub in Yorkshire offering somewhere for horses to be tied up and after talking to his local customers, went ahead with building his own version.
Richard told H&H: “It’s been very much a team effort. We designed it and ended up going a bit overboard. We got old cattle pens used in auctions and welded them together and painted them, we then did timber cladding and horse shoe decoration.”
“We live at Seascale by the beach and a new 2.5-mile bridle path has been put in that leads to the pub. I have five daughters and four ponies and we’ve always said if you go to the pub there’s nowhere to put the ponies!”
The area boasts parking for three horses or ponies, drainage, automated water drinkers and feed troughs.
“We’ve used horse shoes to hold shovels and a bracket for a hose so horses can be washed down – as it’s right outside the pub we didn’t want it smelling,” Richard said.
The pony parking bays are 9ft by 4ft and are drawing a lot of interest on social media.
“I’ve had hundreds of messages from people saying they’ll come for tea with their horses,” Richard said. “Someone has even said they are going to come and try it with their Shire.”
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To go along with the pony parking The Kellbank have also released a new equestrian-friendly menu where owners can buy horse treats, fibre nuts, hay and carrots.
“My brother and his wife have a dairy farm making ice cream which is sold at the ice cream parlour on Seacale beach,” Richard added. “We’re hoping people will go for an ice cream, ride on the beach, use the new bridleway from the beach and come to the pub for their tea.”
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