Best competition venues

Am slightly in love with Towerlands. Fantastic outdoor and so friendly since Equestrian Events Ltd have taken over. Entries were in advance for this weekend's show so I emailed them to ask whether I could enter Disco and NC, then switch my NC entry to 1.05 if Disco didn't go well as it would be my first NC. They replied in 30 mins saying of course.

In terms of snottiness - Longwood are generally fine, but once they threatened to eliminate me and take away my double clear because I collected my rosette on foot. I hadn't even won some major class - it was a minor placing in a BN!

Norton Heath has a good indoor and outdoor.
 
oooh good thread :D

i'm lancashire but i travel about quite a bit to venues i like:

my favourite is eland lodge- lovely facilities, lovely staff, great shop, always had a good day here

Richmond- nice arenas, huge working in, good cafe, friendly staff

Port Royal- again, big arenas, friendly atmosphere

Bold Heath- i know its a bit scruffy and janet scares people but she's nice to me and the working in is big and its well run

Myerscough- really love the international arena. not so keen when have to dressage in the small spooky arena!

Aintree- bright and airy but a tad spooky

:D
 
Good idea for a thread :)

In East Anglia:

Bluegate, Essex (affil and unffail stressage)
Lovely venue, very well organised. Warmup a bit cramped. Lovely arenas. Only downside is that our journey there is on the most awful windy roads so sadly we are unlikely to return.

Fenning Farm, Cambs (affil and unaffil stressage, SJ)
Lovely competition arenas. Warmup a bit deep. Very bleak at times! Current owners much nicer than previous ones.

The Jays, Suffolk (affil and unaffil stressage, BSJA and unaffil SJ, showing)
Probably the best arena surfaces in the area. Owner can be fierce/prickly(!!). The real downside is that lorry parking is on grass. No problem in summer but really puts me off in winter as it gets muddy and I don't want to end up being towed!

Overa, Norfolk (unaffil stressage, BSJA and unaffil SJ)
Good parking. Fairly friendly. Arenas appear to have been put in on the cheap and it shows. Warmup is deep and has membrane and stones coming up.

Topthorn, Suffolk (unaffil stressage, SJ, showing)
Lovely arena. Good parking. Spacious warmup. Don't know where they find their dressage judges from but I've had perhaps the most bizarre judging ever there so a bit of a waste of time and money entering their dressage.
 
my favourites are;

Vale View as previously mentioned... 2x indoors. 2x outdoors. lovely people, nice surfaces, lovely relaxed atmosphere so useful for youngsters/confidence building etc. oh, and the cafe is good ;)

Arena UK - lovely big arenas, lovely surfaces, nice people, nice courses etc. and i love the stalls by the collecting ring...very useful if your on your own with a couple of horses, so you can keep an eye on them as you warm up. only problem i think is warmup can get quite crowded...

Hargate EC - lovely surfaces, nice big arenas and good courses. food good too ;) can be a bit disorganised if a certain couple of people (not naming haha) are in control of the arena... but if its the other lot its very well organised :)

Markfield EC - to be frank...i don't really know why i love it here so much! the surfaces aren't great... the warmup is small and the arena can be a bit dark. but my horses always jump amazingly there... they build very nice courses and the people are so friendly! plus the cafe is good. the centre is easy to find and the parking is great.

xxx
 
Wales and West/Mount Ballan - huge main arena (72m x 100m) large grass derby arena and half a dozen + warm up arenas. Always very well run. And good food!

Summerhouse - Excellent access, lovely big arena with lush surface, beautiful jumps, good size warm up. Very well run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top