Horse holidays. Whitehall Farm, Holkham vs Mill Farm, Wells

CeeBee

CeeBee

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Has anyone been to both?
Can't decide which one to choose for beach weekend away.
I will be taking a caravan, so don't need accommodation.
Would love your reviews or recommendations, thanks all :)
 
Have been to drop a friend at Whitehall Farm and I liked it, think Mill Farm is nearer to the beach if you looking for a beach holiday.
 
Hi, I haven't stayed at either but know both quite well from years of holidaying in Norfolk (leaving pone at home) and wishing I had brought her and analysing where i would keep her if i did!

They both have fab flat fields, and both look nice. Biggest difference i would point out is location... if you go for Whitehall you will have to drive pretty much to get anywhere (think there might be village pub but thats literally it) if you go to Wells there is more to do there with pubs, shops, cafes, F&C etc within walking distance.

Might not matter but something i would definitely consider :)

Wells is marginally nearer Holkham for hacking but not the best road, whereas WhiteHall you can hack pretty much off road all the way there but it is longer

Hope this helps
 
I've stayed at Whitehall and highly recommend! Like Switchthehorse said the biggest difference is location. You can ride to the beach from Whitehall but is quite a long ride if you then have a play around on the beach. We simply box up and in 10 mins your at the beach. Facilities for the horses are great lovely big stables and nice secure fields. We camp and find all the human facilities fine as well. You will have an absolutely great time no matter where you stay as the beach is just amazing! Enjoy!
 
Thanks Follysmum & lottiepony,
I'm just a bit nervous about parking and manoevering my trailer at the 'usual' parking place, especially if it's busy. I've been once before many years ago and can't remember how easy it was to turn round!
 
Yes, sorry - the long drive that leads to the beach. That's good to know about the field.
Hope to go 18th July when I go, so probably quite busy then. I'm going to the BHS summer camp at Forest Edge beforehand, so this will be a treat to finish off the week :)
 
We went last year and were able to park in the field so it was easy to turn around - and the horses loved the long grass after their beach hack!

I have stayed twice at Whitehall Farm. The hack takes the best part of an hour but I like it as it makes it more of an adventure.

If you just go to the beach then it's a bit the same after a while - sand to your left, water to your right, if you get my drift :)

We went for three days and drove straight to the beach from home on the first day, hacked along the farm tracks to the beach on the second - took 4 hours but we took water and stopped for an ice cream (and grass) snack - then on the last day we drove to the beach again, as thought they might be tired but they were still full of running.

Only thing is I didn't find the map all that clear the first time at Whitehall - think they have improved their directions but it might be worth settling the horses and unhitching and going for a drive so that you can see a couple of the farm tracks first. We went wrong the first year and ended up in a field full of cows - oops!
 
CeeBee said:
Thanks Follysmum & lottiepony,
I'm just a bit nervous about parking and manoevering my trailer at the 'usual' parking place, especially if it's busy. I've been once before many years ago and can't remember how easy it was to turn round!
Click to expand...

The key is a nice early start that way the beach and carpark are quieter so less to worry about and the parking is easy just pull in and swing right round so you can drive straight out that way no reversing required :)
 
I stayed at Whitehall last september... the stables and small grass paddock each was perfect and it is only a 10min drive from the beach. As already mentioned you do need to drive if you wanted to go to the pub or shop for anything.
The down sides were lack of organisation/never seeing the people running it.... no one was there when we got there so we didn't know where to put the horses, which paddock/stable where to get straw from etc. I asked for a bale of hay (we did take some with us but i knew i wanted a bit more and wanted to mix them) but it took over 24hrs to get it after many calls. Finding the microwave took a couple of days. And yes, we got lost using their maps too!
Also, the ride to the beach if you do want to hack goes through a massive Pig farm!! would have been nice to have been pre warned about this (they certainly were aware of pigs & horses not being best of friends and people having had problems with this).
When we parked at the beach there was no field, we had to park along the side of the long driveway, and it was extremely busy.
But the beach was AMAZING and whitehall is very reasonable money wise.
 
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