Moving house - bridleways? Horsey areas?

[Lilly1992]

Hi Everyone,
So after lurking for years I have finally accepted I need to post as would like some advice.
I have 2 ponies (Connie and a New forest) we mainly hack out and occasionally show. I adore them.

We are currently looking at moving house (currently in Essex/Suffolk border), we have renovated our house so now looking at selling and moving. The idea was always to use current house as a stepping stone to buy somewhere with land for the ponies. Currently ponies are at a lovely livery however 35 mins from home.
We are both self employed so does not matter where in the country we go, however house prices are insane for anything with land.

So we have been recommended to look at Northern Ireland?
Seen a few gorgeous houses over there with everything and work a lot for people in Ireland and NI, so have contacts but no one horsey to ask.

Could anyone let me know about having the horses over there? I cannot find much on the bridleways/hacking routes? Is there a NI Footpath map somewhere?
Any really good areas for vets/farriers/dentists/etc...?

Am I insane for considering this????

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Irish-Only]

Out of curiosity I looked at Ireland as a potential place to move. From what I understand there are no bridleways, it is ride on the roads, on your own land or find somewhere near to forestry or mountains that you are allowed to ride in/on. I'm happy to be corrected though.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

There are no bridleways in NI. I lived there for 10 years and friends with horses always bemoaned the fact that there were better places for me to cycle than them to ride their horses.

 

[Lilly1992]

There are no bridleways in NI. I lived there for 10 years and friends with horses always bemoaned the fact that there were better places for me to cycle than them to ride their horses.

Thank you. Yes that is what I was afraid of when I could not find anything on the maps. Maybe not for us then.

 

[Lilly1992]

Out of curiosity I looked at Ireland as a potential place to move. From what I understand there are no bridleways, it is ride on the roads, on your own land or find somewhere near to forestry or mountains that you are allowed to ride in/on. I'm happy to be corrected though.

Thank you. That is what seems to be the case, but varying articles saying how lovely the out riding was so thought I ought to check.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Thank you. Yes that is what I was afraid of when I could not find anything on the maps. Maybe not for us then.

I posted a link to the bridleway map on another thread today. It might help you in your search.

www.bridlewaymap.com

Covers the whole of the uk and pretty accurate in my area. Find the place with most tracks and then get the OS map of the area and explore.

 

[dixie]

Interesting map - the Isle of Wight had loads of bridleways.

 

[SEL]

I loved being based near Cannock Chase. Moved down south years ago and miss being able to ride for miles with no roads

 

[Bluewaves]

If you are doing Northern Ireland, the land can be very wet in winter and a lot of it is clay. I live in County Antrim.

County Down seems to be better for land, at the top of little hills (drumlins). I think i have read that County Armagh farmland is most expensive as is the best quality. Fermanagh is the rainiest bit of NI.

There are some good off road hacking routes in NI but I've found you have to be local to your area to know they exist, so it's hard for me to advise, because i don't think they are on maps. I only found out about them when i moved to different places and started hacking.

If you pick carefully though, the roads can be very quiet and some local farmers are happy for you to cross fields at different times of the year if you stick to the hedge lines. I've had loads of great gallops along local off road tracks near Hillsborough in county Down.

I've been told if you need specialist vet advice, you are better going to UCD in Dublin that using local vets here, but the ones i have seem fine for what i have needed so far. There are a couple of good dental technicians i know of and would be happy to recommend. Lots of physios etc. Hard to find a good saddler though.

NI is very easy to live in, the politics are crazy, but the cliche about the people is true. Most of us are very warm and friendly and people who come here to live seem to love it. The schools are good. The health service is beyond terrible. One of the airports is good, the other is a shambles. There are loads of great restaurants all round the country we do like our grub.

 

[SantaVera]

Mary Townley loop and Pennine bridleway give good riding.