Beach Riding at Brean/Berrow?

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jenni999

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We want to take our horses to the beach and the nearest one which you can ride on seems to be Brean and Berrow in Somerset. Does anyone know which bit you can ride on and, just as important, where you can park 2 x cars and trailers? The Tourism Office is useless as the guy is never there and never returns my calls.
Thanks in advance.
 
I have ridden there, Don't know exactly where the bit you can park is but they do have a specific parking area for trailers etc. The only thing is they give you a set of rules...and this includes no cantering/galloping on the beach. I do remember being allowed to ride along the whole beach, so obviously having to be careful with people, dogs, and some people sit on the beach with fishing lines.

There are also some areas of sinking sand which you have to be very careful about.
 
You can ride along the whole length of the beach at Brean, and you can get a really nice long ride. Best to go when the tide is reasonably high, but not at full high tide - when it's low there is a lot of mud and a loose horse could easily get stuck; when the tide is right up there is not much room for both horses and fishermen, walkers etc. Although you're not really supposed to canter/gallop, I think you'll be fine as long as you are considerate and make sure you have a nice empty stretch of beach. This is what we do.

We always park in the beach car park (£6 for trailer I think) next to a cafe whose name I forget - think it has 'sun' somewhere in the name?? Anyway, the entrance is practically opposite the entrance to the Leisure Park.

Hope that helps!
 
just to clarify for others that read this as I have pm'd the OP back :)

ester does know mb ;)

you can canter and gallop though be considerate, the only thing you are are not allowed to do is go in the dunes or past the lighthouse (where it becomes burnham beach not berrow ) There are 2 beach car parks, the cheapest is a fiver for a trailer in peak season :)

and just for safetys sake I strongly recommend that noone attempts to take horses in the sea there unless they are with someone who knows the beach very well. It is only suitable for this at very high tide (ie when you wouldn't be able to park) and if in doubt, despite the fact there are more dog walkers stay up near the dunes its safe there, if you head out to sea its a long way back if you hit a mud bank. If it looks wet and brown keep off it :D the bit at the very end near brean down can get particularly muddy and keep an eye on eachothers hoofprints. It is safe if used well but I cringe when I see horses hundreds of metres out.

happy beach riding :)

oh and katiea... best thing is to try not to fall off ;) but if you are going to make sure its off a 12.2... in the sea... in october ;) :D :D
 
ester said:
oh and katiea... best thing is to try not to fall off ;) but if you are going to make sure its off a 12.2... in the sea... in october ;) :D :D
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Lol! My new young mare (15.2) nearly ditched me in the sea a couple of weeks ago when she suddenly took a dislike to an incoming little wave. I ended up hanging off the side, and was in such fits of laughter that I couldn't scramble back upright for ages!

When you advise against taking horses in the sea I guess you mean going in far enough for a swim? If so, absolutely - you would have to wade out miles to get to deep enough water, and you would almost certainly hit the lethal mud. We always splash through the shallows though - keeps us out of the way of dog walkers etc and is good education for the horses.
 
i just got wet, there wasnt much side to hang on to (that was a few years back!) he used to love swimming though when it was right up. waves you have to understand are moving barriers coming towards you and def not to be trusted ;)

its more of a if you have been there with the tide out you can see where the mud patches that are further up the beach (ie not far from the dunes) are. If you are a newbie you have no idea what is under their feet and best to err on the side of caution. we lost a 16.2 up to his ears once as somehow a ledge had developed... I think though its been a while since we have paddled that we tended to stick to the brean side of the berrow car park for that :)
 
Ah, I see - very sensible advice. Thanks for clarifying!

Must have been absolutely terrifying having a horse sink in the mud... eek.
 
It is a measure of how bad the mud can be, that Berrow rescue have a hover craft, as it is not safe to drive on the sandy / muddy part of the beach.

I have an open invitation to ride any morning on the beach with my OH's cousin. He is an ex-NH jockey. Trouble is, old habits die hard and he's usually riding 'first thing' in the morning, before work. First thing being 4.30am :eek:
 
yup not sure what he ended up on, he popped back up out of the water pretty quick thankfully just a bit soggy...

I bet its lovely at 4.30am though neil ;)

my mum got dumped there when she was exercising out from the leisure park (he used to have a few racers) long walk back.
 
I also say watch out for the soft sand - I got caught out earlier in the year, on my way back to the box. My little mare's front end went down and as she pulled her front end up her back end then sank. All I could do was sit there and keep her head up, thankfully, that day, she decided to be extremely sane & brave, and got us both out, but it terrified me! (Happened a few years ago riding through the woods of all places, so I think we may be jinxed), but other than that, it was a really good day out. Just put safety and common sense above everything else :)
 
I always ride past the lighthouse and then leave the beach to hack up to Rectory Road where I normally get picked up. Never had an issue. Did not even realise you were not supposed to! I refuse to pay to park so get dropped off and picked up again!

BTW I have had a horse break down on both tendons on that beach so I am now very very cautious about what I do (no galloping and only a very slow canter). The harder the sand the better. I have never had an issue in the water but I only walk and its never that far out as the mud is hideous.
 
LEC technically I think it is where the rock wall starts on the left hand side, where it is behind the wire, I thought the lighthouse was more obvious (I had a lovely long conversation with the delightful lady owner of 3 dobermans about this ;) while pointing out the bridleway...)

and yup.. frank messed up his shoulder down there so am pretty careful too.
 
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