Best take-your-own-horse holiday locations?

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
So the friend who I often horse-holiday with has suggested we go somewhere in August, and we fancy somewhere new so where can you suggest/recommend?

Must have turnout paddocks
Preferably tent/lorry camping
Lots of hacking routes and prefer that they are mostly off road
Not fussed for school/x country etc.
Preferably in the east/midlands/north east/south east

I quite fancy the south downs or north York moors, anywhere good there?
 
The chilterns is doable and It looks nice, but not very clear how much of the rides are on roads, obviously some as they say going through villages. Really looking for personal recommendation of somewhere people have stayed and thought was amazing.
I know several people who have stayed here and loved it. It is about an hour away from my yard and people go for day trips as well.
 
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I know several people who have stayed here and loved it. It is about an hour away from my yard and people go for day trips as well.
What is the riding like? we are so spoiled here that I would hate to end up somewhere that you spend half your time on roads/lanes, I like to have lots of options to go off and explore and it needs to be good going for Jess :)
 
Have you contacted Ride Yorkshire? There is lots of information on their website but they are also very helpful if you email them any questions.

There's also a place in Derbyshire that we were thinking about for next time but I can't remember the details ATM - think it's something like Hoe Grange. Don't know anyone who's been there, but it looks nice.

We went to Field Farm at Mumby which has all your requirements apart from the off road hacking. Apart from the beach and the xc course we were told the hacking involved roads. There must be bridle paths about because it's a very horsey area, but the one hack we went on did involve crossing and riding a little way down a main road - not something I would have done without a safe horse escort, although the verges were wide enough to get out of the way if anything big came along.
 
Have you contacted Ride Yorkshire? There is lots of information on their website but they are also very helpful if you email them any questions.

There's also a place in Derbyshire that we were thinking about for next time but I can't remember the details ATM - think it's something like Hoe Grange. Don't know anyone who's been there, but it looks nice.

We went to Field Farm at Mumby which has all your requirements apart from the off road hacking. Apart from the beach and the xc course we were told the hacking involved roads. There must be bridle paths about because it's a very horsey area, but the one hack we went on did involve crossing and riding a little way down a main road - not something I would have done without a safe horse escort, although the verges were wide enough to get out of the way if anything big came along.
I have looked at ride Yorkshire before, not called them though. I want to explore personal recommendations before I start looking at unknowns, I really don't want to organize another holiday this year that ends up being a huge disappointment.
I don't mind doing a little road work, a mile here and there, I am not worried by riding on even 60mph A roads, I just don't want to spend all my time on roads and certainly would be a tad narked if I paid for that privilege :) I think ideally we are going to go for 5 days, so would need a good range of routes as will probably do a few longer rides and other days where we do a couple of shorter ones, so probably looking for 8 or so different routes of varying lengths.
 
To give more of an idea why I'm so fussy, this is just down the road from me, they charge 10/night for camping and 5/night for a paddock.....
Its my normal hacking area (or part of it) so ideally looking to go elsewhere but its got to beat this.
If any NR's fancied a visit I'd happily be your tour guide :D
 
Cholsey Farm is about 5 mins from where I keep Angel/where I live! It's really beautiful and a lovely place to stay with amazing hacking. There's a cafe in the woods where you can tie up and have a coffee and most of the local pubs are horse-friendly too.

ETA - there are loads of bridleways and the roads (country lanes) are very quiet. You can do a circuit of several miles of bridleway with just a few minutes of roadwork.
 
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Cholsey Farm is about 5 mins from where I keep Angel/where I live! It's really beautiful and a lovely place to stay with amazing hacking. There's a cafe in the woods where you can tie up and have a coffee and most of the local pubs are horse-friendly too.
That sounds good then, we like coffe and cake and pubs especially when we can get there off road :D
 
Cholsey is stunning riding. I was out for about 3.5/4 hours when I went there for the day and only maybe 20/30mins of that was very quiet lanes.

They have a fb page that is often updated with lots of photos and video's. Their guide maps are really good and Jackie is lovely to deal with on the phone. I am sure she would be happy to chat. Pub opposite the farm too, which is always important for a holiday!!

I have miles of offroad riding where I am too, but a change is as good as the rest. I am going to North Norfolk next monday so can let you know about that when I get back! :)
 
Cholsey is stunning riding. I was out for about 3.5/4 hours when I went there for the day and only maybe 20/30mins of that was very quiet lanes.

They have a fb page that is often updated with lots of photos and video's. Their guide maps are really good and Jackie is lovely to deal with on the phone. I am sure she would be happy to chat. Pub opposite the farm too, which is always important for a holiday!!

I have miles of offroad riding where I am too, but a change is as good as the rest. I am going to North Norfolk next monday so can let you know about that when I get back! :)
Thanks :) Where are you going in north Norfolk? I just got back from courtyard farm a couple of weeks ago, as I only live on the Norfolk/Suffolk border I have done lots of the horse holiday places around Norfolk :)
 
I love the look of Cholsey - according to google maps it's about 3 hours drive in a car from me, so probably about 4 in a box. Looks a nice easy route though, mainly M1. I wonder if 4 hours travelling (with a break) would be too much? Raf doesn't really eat when we're travelling so I'd need to have at least one long stop to give him chance to have a good fibre feed of some sort.

ETA - sorry, that sounded as though I was inviting myself on holiday with you! I'm really not - just musing over the possibilities of travelling from Yorkshire - we're on the lookout for our next horsey holiday from the yard.
 
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I love the look of Cholsey - according to google maps it's about 3 hours drive in a car from me, so probably about 4 in a box. Looks a nice easy route though, mainly M1. I wonder if 4 hours travelling (with a break) would be too much? Raf doesn't really eat when we're travelling so I'd need to have at least one long stop to give him chance to have a good fibre feed of some sort.

ETA - sorry, that sounded as though I was inviting myself on holiday with you! I'm really not - just musing over the possibilities of travelling from Yorkshire - we're on the lookout for our next horsey holiday from the yard.
Its 2-2.5 hrs by google maps from us, so I would guess it will take 3 hours as its mainly motorways. The new thinking is horse shouldn't go longer than 4-6 hours without food intake, so I wouldn't be too concerned for a 4 hour trip, maybe stop and offer a bit of sugar beet half way but they find motorway miles far easier on them than urban miles. Jess won't eat travelling locally but will pick at hay when I have hauled her further and we've done up to 6.5 hours.
 
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Cholsey Farm is about 5 mins from where I keep Angel/where I live! It's really beautiful and a lovely place to stay with amazing hacking. There's a cafe in the woods where you can tie up and have a coffee and most of the local pubs are horse-friendly too.
I love the look of Cholsey - according to google maps it's about 3 hours drive in a car from me, so probably about 4 in a box. Looks a nice easy route though, mainly M1. I wonder if 4 hours travelling (with a break) would be too much? Raf doesn't really eat when we're travelling so I'd need to have at least one long stop to give him chance to have a good fibre feed of some sort.

ETA - sorry, that sounded as though I was inviting myself on holiday with you! I'm really not - just musing over the possibilities of travelling from Yorkshire - we're on the lookout for our next horsey holiday from the yard.
I boxed Roxy for four hours to take her to her loan home and she was fine actually. I think it's easier to just go there (if you can) than try and find somewhere you can stop - we did stop in a service station so I could check on her but she seemed absolutely fine so we carried on.
 
That's good to know thanks both. I am a bit over protective sometimes because he is a bit of a flaky beast at the best of times and he has had ulcers, so at the moment I'm particularly worrying myself about him having an empty stomach :)
 
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We are off to Home Farm in Norfolk. Hoping its as nice as it looks!

Just a word about Cholsey, it does have some very steep hills (I got off to go down one!) and you need a fit horse to make the most of it. :)
 
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We are off to Home Farm in Norfolk. Hoping its as nice as it looks!

Just a word about Cholsey, it does have some very steep hills (I got off to go down one!) and you need a fit horse to make the most of it. :)
Home farm is next to the same beach I've posted pics of, I haven't actually stayed there as prefer to camp but its a lovely location, def pay the pub down the road a visit, they welcome horses, and the food is outstanding :D If you get time there is a nice circular route through Ringstead Downs nature reserve, its about 12 miles-ish :)

Steep hills is good, we don't have any here, it's flat as a pancake so I would look forward to that :D
 
We are off to Home Farm in Norfolk. Hoping its as nice as it looks!

Just a word about Cholsey, it does have some very steep hills (I got off to go down one!) and you need a fit horse to make the most of it. :)
It's great hacking if you want to get your horse fit though!

I quite fancy Home Farm myself...
 
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