Somerford park farm ride?

[Michen]

Is it worth going? Friend, ponies, dogs and I are heading to the area (near Delamere forest- Crowton area) for a week in a cottage with a hot tub!

Looks like we will be near Somerford and someone mentioned this. Any other suggestions on where to go? Will Delamere forest keep us amused for a few long hacks?

 

[Xmasha]

Somerford is fab and well worth going, they also have xc training fields too. Then you have Kelsall which also has the gallops. Loads of facilities around here.
Delamere forest and whitegate way are lovely hacks too.

 

[Michen]

Somerford is fab and well worth going, they also have xc training fields too. Then you have Kelsall which also has the gallops. Loads of facilities around here.
Delamere forest and whitegate way are lovely hacks too.

Thanks! Are there nice open areas in the forest etc for cantering or is it all rough sort of tracks?

 

[Roxylola]

Its nice off road safe reliable hacking with some straightforward xc style fences of mixed heights.
Big advantage is you can't get lost as its a planned route and you know you're not going to encounter any dogs/bikes etc.
I don't know Delamere at all tbh but I've seen other folk's pictures.
Tbh, for £20 each its a nice couple of hours out on a reliable all weather surface etc

 

[Xmasha]

Thanks! Are there nice open areas in the forest etc for cantering or is it all rough sort of tracks?

I think its mainly off road hacking , but i do remember some parts had open tracks.. although its been a long time since i did the open fields tracks as i got lost. Kelsall is just around the corner and they have a farm ride with loads of room to canter, plus the gallops is fab as its uphill, so if you have a fresh one its a good way to settle them.

We also have broxton gallops ( a bit further away for you ) but again another great place for galloping, and then theres Tilston farm ride. Which is much more low key but good value for money if you do a couple of loops

 

[Roxylola]

Somerford pics me on a borrowed mare (don't judge id never sat on her before and jumped literally a handful of times in years recently at that point) just gives you an idea of the fences etc - the bigger tyres are about as big as it gets there
Somerford is all surface whereas kelsall is grass - so if there were heavy rain kelsall might get rained off but its another good few hours of hacking- both definitely worth it

 

[RachelFerd]

Delamere will certainly keep you amused for long hacks - although most of it is rough tracks rather than suitable for cantering. You can ride to the top of the hill at Old Pale for great views, and if you join up with the Whitegate Way there are some lovely rolling canters on that stretch. For the forest you'll want a good OS map to plan out routes. If you do a bit of googling the BHS ridemaps website has some suggested routes and also some of the local endurance groups will have maps from rides that they run around Delamere.

I mainly use Somerford farm ride in the winter when nowhere else is good enough for cantering, as it is al weather-y (but not like a gallops). The real jewel in Somerford's facilities is the 80 acres XC schooling area.

 

[dogatemysalad]

Click on Somerfords website and follow the farm ride on video. It's definitely worth a visit.

 

[Bionic Boy]

It's definitely worth a visit, its a lovely ride to go round with optional jumps of different sizes. No chance of getting lost as very well marked out.
They also have a lovely café on site and Hope Valley Saddlery.
You will have a great day.

 

[Michen]

I am not convinced we've chosen the best place for hacking from the cottage, eeeeeek. But we have been spoilt with cotswolds trips so this was a bit of an unknown to us. I think we'd be happy to do one day boxing somewhere (somerford etc) but as we will have spent 4 hours getting there for the week we don't want to box out every day. Maybe two, with Fornby beach?

 

[lamlyn2012]

Somerford is great.
You may have to have six monthly jabs though. Haven't been since the pandemic but after the equine flu epedemic they did insist on 6 monthly jabs. Don't know if this is still a thing.
Also you are not allowed to take dogs but may be ok if left in lorry.
It's a lovely farm ride with different heights of jumps, water and lovely tracks.

 

[Michen]

It's definitely worth a visit, its a lovely ride to go round with optional jumps of different sizes. No chance of getting lost as very well marked out.
They also have a lovely café on site and Hope Valley Saddlery.
You will have a great day.

My fav online store so that's fab!!

 

[Roxylola]

12 monthly jabs now for Somerford

 

[benz]

There’s a Facebook group called Delamere forest and kelsall hill riders, might be worth joining and asking there? Kelsall is much closer than somerford probs about 10 —15mins from crowton, also has xc and farm ride as well as gallops. Hope you enjoy your holiday

 

[Tiddlypom]

Delamere has some good riding, but it's too busy for much fast work. It's been particularly busy since Covid whenever we are not in lockdown - lots of walkers, dogs and cyclists everywhere. Beware of extending leads for tangling round horses's legs . There are mountain bike trails, and cyclists can come barrelling from side tracks out onto the main horse tracks without warning.

Having said that, I'm hoping take the wonky mare there later this year. I'm hoping that getting there early, say 8am ish, will mean it's not as busy. I will park in the big Whitefield car park, which is currently closed due to lockdown.

Kelsall is great. The big Hope Valley shop at Somerford is awesome!

ETA You might want to divert away from the Go Ape attraction at Delamere if it is open. Some horses would find shrieking punters whizzing overhead across the path on a zip wire a tad alarming - I'm not brave enough to test the wonky mare out with that!

 

[Ample Prosecco]

I love the Somerford farm ride. The bits in the woods are narrow and twisty rather than wide, but there are other wider areas. It can get a bit crowded. But it is one way only so it's manageable. I've never done the Kelsall farm ride but the gallops look great! The XC schooling field at Somerfors is much bigger and more varied than the one at Kelsall.

 

[jnb]

Somerford is amazing, I travelled about 65 miles to go twice last year on my baby cob. He loved it!

It's all weather surface all the way round on the winter ride, and a lot of the way on the Summer ride - I wasn't brave enough to go through the river , can anyone who has done the river advise if it's v deep, and if you have to ride alone it rather than just through? Didn't want to freak out my cob and I was alone with no one else in sight so thought it was safer to not do it.

 

[Roxylola]

Somerford is amazing, I travelled about 65 miles to go twice last year on my baby cob. He loved it!

It's all weather surface all the way round on the winter ride, and a lot of the way on the Summer ride - I wasn't brave enough to go through the river , can anyone who has done the river advise if it's v deep, and if you have to ride alone it rather than just through? Didn't want to freak out my cob and I was alone with no one else in sight so thought it was safer to not do it.

Its pretty deep, I'd say maybe a little over the knees on a 15 hander and yes you ride upstream and come out further up than you go in.

 

[EnduroRider]

I would suggest that for Somerford, Kelsall and Delamere the secret to an enjoyable ride is getting there for opening time, before the masses!

I am stabled in Kingsley, close to Crowton and whilst there are not heaps of bridleways the lanes are relatively quiet and you can make a lot of different routes around and about. Also worthy of note that some of the bridle paths marked on OS are impassable (despite a lot of action from the bridleways group over the years).

Cheshire EGB ran a pleasure ride locally last year, if you'd like a copy of the route map send me you email address on PM. It may give you some inspiration on where to go...

 

[sherry90]

Somerford isn’t too far from me - the farm ride is great at about 7miles, you can canter/trot the majority and all fences are optional. It’s got a mix of flat/hills and I would say 80% is surfaced - there’s short bits of road (private road).

Weekdays are usually quieter (although there are sometimes camps on mid week) if you are going whilst there’s still some social distancing required (rule of 6 for example) then it will naturally be quieter.

Kelsall is good but I found as it wasn’t surfaced it was boggy in parts (we went at Easter one year) so depends on when you are going, as might have dried up by then!

 

[ycbm]

I'd love to come with you if you're going to do SPF

 

[ycbm]

Also you can come to me and I'll take you on a fab hack round Macclesfield Forest. I can even get the OH to bring us a picnic half way

 

[Roxylola]

Also you can come to me and I'll take you on a fab hack round Macclesfield Forest. I can even get the OH to bring us a picnic half way

Just sort of hijacking michens thread to volunteer if you ever want a spare rider for one of yours for company riding out - its tricky with Charlie as he's not mine, and we have a car and trailer which I've no license/insurance for but I'm happy to sit politely on most things and yours are both so pretty ?

 

[ycbm]

Just sort of hijacking michens thread to volunteer if you ever want a spare rider for one of yours for company riding out - its tricky with Charlie as he's not mine, and we have a car and trailer which I've no license/insurance for but I'm happy to sit politely on most things and yours are both so pretty ?

I don't know if i could trust either of them with another rider, I'm the only one who's ever ridden either of them and they're both sharp. But if you get your licence, bob over

 

[scats]

I used to regularly go to the Kelsall farm ride, as it’s only 20 minutes away from me.
Hoping to get to Somerford at some point with Millie.

 

[jnb]

I used to regularly go to the Kelsall farm ride, as it’s only 20 minutes away from me.
Hoping to get to Somerford at some point with Millie.

ooh up for a sedate companion??

 

[conniegirl]

I love Somerford park ride. I normally combine it with a trip to Derbyshire festival of showing as the farm ride is a lovely way to start the weekend.
The river is not too deep if you stick to the right hand side, was about knee height on my 15.2hh and just over on my 15hh pony.

 

[Honey08]

We took 12h ponies through the river and they didn’t have to swim! (Pc ride). It’s best if you have a good water horse for the lead.

 

[scats]

ooh up for a sedate companion??

Definitely! x

 

[Michen]

Delamere has some good riding, but it's too busy for much fast work. It's been particularly busy since Covid whenever we are not in lockdown - lots of walkers, dogs and cyclists everywhere. Beware of extending leads for tangling round horses's legs . There are mountain bike trails, and cyclists can come barrelling from side tracks out onto the main horse tracks without warning.

Having said that, I'm hoping take the wonky mare there later this year. I'm hoping that getting there early, say 8am ish, will mean it's not as busy. I will park in the big Whitefield car park, which is currently closed due to lockdown.

Kelsall is great. The big Hope Valley shop at Somerford is awesome!

ETA You might want to divert away from the Go Ape attraction at Delamere if it is open. Some horses would find shrieking punters whizzing overhead across the path on a zip wire a tad alarming - I'm not brave enough to test the wonky mare out with that!

I haven't decided which of the horses to take yet but Bear I doubt would even raise his head and Bog already finds everything exciting so it won't make any difference