Best horsey area to live in England?

W

wench

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 December 2005
Messages
10,260
Visit site
Just random musings whilst I've been at work. Basically I have scope to get a job anywhere in the UK, and got me wondering where the best place in the UK would possibly be, as where I currently am really isnt great.

What I would like for my horse:

My ideal yard would have:
All year turnout where possible (I know that this isnt always possible, as per this winter).
Decent facilties, school with decent surface, that isnt that busy so you never get to ride
Things like w in aalkers, solariums would be a nice plus
Off road hacking, or quiet on road hacking
Located near decent training/comp facilities

For me to live:
I would to live in a decent village with a pub (the pub is a must), however I dont have an awful lot to spend on rent, so would more than likely have to do what I'm doing now, and stay in a town.
Town/village would be a very short distance away from my perfect yard.


Is there any such area in the country?
 
I know yards that offer what you want but rent locally is through the roof... Joys of being in Sussex!
 
Gloucestershire is supposed to be the best horsey county - well the Cotswolds area, because Gloucestershire also covers the other side of the river in the Forest of Dean.

I have had a riding holiday in the Cotswolds, so lovely hacking, obviously lots of good competitions venues, nearly every large house seems to have stables and an arena attached.

One disadvantage - it is footballers/millionaires row, mega expensive.
 
I also wouldnt mind livery with a pro/someone who would school/ride my horse properly, rather than just let it slop along and not get any benefit out of it.

This is all totally hypothtical, but I do want to bear things in mind!
 
Not far from England you have South Wales. Between Chepstow & Newport there's great transport links for work, plenty of cheap places to live & loads of lovely riding - particularly north of the A48. There's also David Broome's equestrian centre, otherwise known as Cricklands.
 
Last edited:
Depends a lot on your budget.
Gloucestershire is good, plenty of top riders based there so good access to trainers and venues for sj/dressage/eventing, good transport links and lovely countryside.
It is pricey though, as someone else said, you could also look at Somerset or Devon has some fab hacking.
 
Last edited:
My yard has most of what you want (bar the walker and solarium) but the roads are a bit busy for hacking. (it doesn't bother me as I've grown up on these roads and my horse is the best horse I've ever known in traffic, but I wouldn't choose it) I live 1 mile away in a large village (3 pubs and a curry house!) that has excellent public transport (trains and buses) to Cardiff. I have work 10 minutes in one direction and the horses 5 minutes in the other and I live in a village that is big enough for good facilities but small enough to have a lovely sense of community. Best of all worlds. We have 4 decent competition centres for unaffiliated stuff within 30 minutes, and beaches or forestry rides within 20 minutes trailer ride. The only thing that's limited is affiliated competition - there's 1 venue that does BS in the winter, 2 that do BD and one big outdoor BS county show in the summer. THere's 4 BE venues about an hour away but after those it's at least another hour to the next closest venues.

To be honest you'd probably find most of what your looking for anywhere in the country outside of the big cities but the amount you'd pay for it would vary massively.
 
Last edited:
Second vote for Dorset. Great hacking available and sure you will find the facilities etc.
Live in Hampshire and its expensive for rent and where I am hacking is not great (North Hampshire) but has lots of top facilities around including pro riders.
 
wench said:
My ideal yard would have:
All year turnout where possible (I know that this isnt always possible, as per this winter).
Decent facilties, school with decent surface, that isnt that busy so you never get to ride
Things like w in aalkers, solariums would be a nice plus
Off road hacking, or quiet on road hacking
Located near decent training/comp facilities

For me to live:
I would to live in a decent village with a pub (the pub is a must), however I dont have an awful lot to spend on rent, so would more than likely have to do what I'm doing now, and stay in a town.
Town/village would be a very short distance away from my perfect yard.
Click to expand...

Gosh OP.......... this is a big ask:)

Think you'd better keep up buying that Lottery ticket, Premium Bonds, or whatever.

Good luck anyway.
 
Lincolnshire fits the bill perfectly especially near where I live in the wolds lots of yards easy access to competition, great livery yards and best of all it is very cheap to buy and rent. Hay and feed are at the lower end with excellent quality and there are a lot of villages with attractive surroundings and pubs. The yard you describe is about 4 miles from here withing an hour of the beach and lots of off road hacking round me with the forest trail a 60 mile woodland ride/drive just up the road lots to do good value for money and where I am free draining sandy soil that is never muddy, less rain than north africa, sunny warm and dry at least part of almost every day and friendly laid back non interfering people. Draw back is the strong breeze and occasional gale but it does keep the flies down
 
NOt cheshire, beautiful but expensive and full of rich people so the competition is fierce... and it rains all the time... I love living here but I wouldn't recommend anyone else moving in!
 
If you are limiting yourself to England, you are missing out on Scotland. But that's OK. I'll just keep it all to myself!

But,seriously, you could probably buy a small farm up here for what a tiny terraced house would cost you in the south east and never mind the livery.

DSC00020_zps1f77541e.jpg
 
Last edited:
blitznbobs said:
NOt cheshire, beautiful but expensive and full of rich people so the competition is fierce... and it rains all the time... I love living here but I wouldn't recommend anyone else moving in!
Click to expand...

Aaaah. The rain ! Was a bit of a culture shock moving to the Staffs/Cheshire border a couple of years ago. It is pretty with a few lovely areas but we're very limited for off road riding and motorists are the craziest I've met. However, my livery yard is wonderful and has a walker and solarium. House prices are good value for money and cheaper than Leicestershire which is my favourite county for horses. I lived in south and north Leics and it's good for pro- riders and competitons. Hacking is good and the council seem to have worked well in providing access for off road riding.
However, I really like the Suffolk coast. It has less rain and more sunshine than the midlands.
 
Shropshire! Close enough to commute W Mids, Birmingham, lots of jobs in Telford and Shrewsbury, my yard on edge of Telford has miles and miles of off road and small lane hacking plus miles of permissive bridleways on fields.
Some lanes flood a bit in Winter but are still rideable, we have all year turnout and a school, YO will ride/school, full livery 7 days £80 / week Part 5 day full £60/week...
Competitions really close by - 3 local RCs within 30 min drive (2 within 10 minutes) and 3 x Affiliated BD/BS venues under 20 miles away.
What's not to like!
 
Warwickshire or Warks/Leics border is a good one. Has M1, M6, M69 joining up the north and south. Your about 2hrs from anywhere as its in the middle of England. Has 3 big hunts depending on where you are. Has 3 big affl competition places and about 8 unaff competition places and lots of bridleways. I cant think of a village without a pub either. Not too much rain as the clouds tend to have already opened and finished by the time they get to us. Down side some areas do have clay.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, plenty of nice places to consider. Whilst I may be living in cloud cuckoo land, it's nice to know some options, as where I will be moving to shortly is really not good for horses at all
 
nix123 said:
Warwickshire or Warks/Leics border is a good one. Has M1, M6, M69 joining up the north and south. Your about 2hrs from anywhere as its in the middle of England. Has 3 big hunts depending on where you are. Has 3 big affl competition places and about 8 unaff competition places and lots of bridleways. I cant think of a village without a pub either. Not too much rain as the clouds tend to have already opened and finished by the time they get to us. Down side some areas do have clay.
Click to expand...

Agree with this... although my village doesn't have a pub!

Onley Grounds near Dunchurch, Warwickshire is excellent. 3 arenas (2 indoor), horse walker, off road hacking. No resident pro though (unless you're in to polo), but they often have clinics/course walks etc going on. They have events every week, pretty much anything you can think of: showing, SJ, dressage, arena eventing, Le Trec, mounted games, polo, polocrosse etc etc... They have a walker and year round turnout but no solarium unfortunately. There's also a tack shop, showers/toilets, farm shop, cafe, restaurant and soon to be vet surgery on site.

Can't tell you about rent prices though, sorry!
 
Northumberland! My yard is pretty much as you described (minus the horse walker/solarium). Horses have been allowed out for at least 6 hours every day all winter. Miles of off road hacking and or quiet roads. Some decent training areas and several good instructors visit the yard. Plenty of small villages with pubs and as an added bonus they can be incorporated into your ride! Newcastle and Hexham 20mins in either direction. Rent isn't too hideous. Come to the North!!
 
Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Hertfordshire, ( I'm lucky enough to live on the boarders of all three near MK) is lovely and has some great equestrian centres and pro riders round here.....people often see Tim Stockdale at addington and bury farm.
 
Worcestershire is good, fab uk chasers course, race track ( when not under water) , good equine places, sales nearby. Hills, sand, woods, forests. Cheaper than glos ans Cotswolds. 10 mins from M5, 40 mins from Birmingham. Near to HOYS. M50 20 mins, Bristol jun for M32/M4 is an hour, beach 1hr and a half... Good shows, NPS etc. Good shops and some saddlery people... Affordable still! Although land can be brought its nit plentiful.
 
wench said:
Just random musings whilst I've been at work. Basically I have scope to get a job anywhere in the UK, and got me wondering where the best place in the UK would possibly be, as where I currently am really isnt great.

What I would like for my horse:

My ideal yard would have:
All year turnout where possible (I know that this isnt always possible, as per this winter).
Decent facilties, school with decent surface, that isnt that busy so you never get to ride
Things like w in aalkers, solariums would be a nice plus
Off road hacking, or quiet on road hacking
Located near decent training/comp facilities

For me to live:
I would to live in a decent village with a pub (the pub is a must), however I dont have an awful lot to spend on rent, so would more than likely have to do what I'm doing now, and stay in a town.
Town/village would be a very short distance away from my perfect yard.


Is there any such area in the country?
Click to expand...

I know of a village in hampshire with facilities for your horse, they also have pubs and inns suited to yourself; I myself have stayed at the hawkley inn and the cricketers inn in Kingsley (www.thecricketersinn.com if you want to check it out). The yards look very well kept but I haven't got a horse so I'm not sure if you'd find better, good luck though!
 
Do you have the sort of job where you are paid the same wherever in the country you live? If so, there's a lot to be said for choosing somewhere with lower rents / livery costs
 
windand rain said:
Lincolnshire fits the bill perfectly especially near where I live in the wolds lots of yards easy access to competition, great livery yards and best of all it is very cheap to buy and rent. Hay and feed are at the lower end with excellent quality and there are a lot of villages with attractive surroundings and pubs. The yard you describe is about 4 miles from here withing an hour of the beach and lots of off road hacking round me with the forest trail a 60 mile woodland ride/drive just up the road lots to do good value for money and where I am free draining sandy soil that is never muddy, less rain than north africa, sunny warm and dry at least part of almost every day and friendly laid back non interfering people. Draw back is the strong breeze and occasional gale but it does keep the flies down
Click to expand...

Sounds good enough to almost tempt me out of Scotland :) I live in Edinburgh which is expensive but has some lovely hacking areas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top