Where to live in your 20s with a horse

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ditsyponies

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Looking for suggestions or personal experiences from anyone who’s moved somewhere new in the UK in their 20s with a horse.

The ideal would be good access to countryside for the horse (within 20mins), but also enough going on socially to meet new people.

Where did you live that worked well both for city/busier lifestyle and horses? Any recommendations or advice would be hugely appreciated feeling a bit overwhelmed with options!
 
Do you want competitive options for the horse or just great hacking?
What sort of activities are you interested in, in terms of meeting new people?
How hectic a social life do you enjoy?
And what sort of budget do you have, as the nearer a city you are, the more expensive it'll be!
 
The social life is easy, join the Young Farmers. If one club doesn't suit there are lots more. And there should be plenty of people who ride.

As for where - well, what is your job? You could advertise on the local Facebook page to see if there is accommodation with horse facilities, there are sometimes.
 
spacefaer said:
Do you want competitive options for the horse or just great hacking?
What sort of activities are you interested in, in terms of meeting new people?
How hectic a social life do you enjoy?
And what sort of budget do you have, as the nearer a city you are, the more expensive it'll be!
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Ideally competition venues/horsey area as we do like to get out and about. Social side I like bars/gigs/gym/cafes and not looking for it to be too hectic or a huge city (London) just more going on than a village. I work remote so able to move wherever with a decent salary for my age - currently based SE so have been looking around this area first but undecided!
 
Well, prices for places like that are generally lower in the north, for both you and the horse if you’re considering it.

Derbyshire and notts has lots of active, social towns (bars, cafés, etc). Plus, smaller cities if you’re more hectic than me. There’s also Download every year if you fancy something bigger.

It’s a very horsey area if you know where to look. There’s usually a fair few shows (I’m not particularly active in competition circuits!), plus the Ashover show which is huge around here.

There’s also Belper which is incredibly social with some property availability on the outskirts. It’s where I potentially plan to live in my 20s.

Source: I’m late teens with two horses, not an estate agent despite how well I’m selling the area! 🤣
 
South Wales near Swansea was good. The hacking is out of this world, lots of horsey stuff going on, and while Swansea itself isnt somewhere i'd want to live, its really easy to get to on trains and buses etc and theres lots going on.
 
I’m East Midlands based, outside a village but 30 minutes from the nearest city and 15 from a big town.

I think questions like this are two fold. First where in the country, then city/town/village/rural. And think about the small things, I can’t walk to a shop when I run out of milk. Nor can I get a takeaway delivered! But I can drive 5 minutes to pick up either. What lifestyle in terms of convenience are you used to?

I like being central, East Midlands is within easy distance of arenas at Birmingham, Nottingham or Sheffield for gigs and concerts. And there’s an option of various theatres. And plenty of football and rugby teams to follow if that’s your thing.

As someone says above, there is Download festival or even Glastonbudget on your doorstep. Alton Towers is close by. East Mids or Birmingham airports are very handy!

Road network is easily accessible, north and south dead easy from the M1. Train to London in 1 hour 20. There are a good number of competition centres easily accessible in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Grantham and round about.

You’ll get far more for your money as you move north from the SE.
 
I would have said avoid Oxfordshire/Berkshire cos cost, and livery options are quite limited with good yards very very rarely if ever having spaces. And there is a LOT of building going on, roads are not maintained so no fun for transporting and the traffic is getting heavier and it feels like lots of 'townie' types that pass at 500mph six inches from you.... But close to some excellent vets because of proximity to lambourn/compton and competition centres e.g Aston le walls, oakingham (which holds clear round jumping pretty much every weekend). Commuter connections are excellent (hence all the house building....🙄) though and Oxford is good for non horsey stuff to do plus close to truck and reading festivals if thats your thing.

Oh and they're about to build a f***off massive reservoir so we'll be flooded eight months of the year too 😃👍👍

Malton is supposed to be very horsey and things are cheaper up there by a long way. I loved Yorkshire. But wasn't there with a horse though. would be more than happy to move back in a heartbeat given the opportunity. I am a complete country bumpkin but found York has a v village feel whilst still having loads to do and is just... friendly and nice, I guess.

Ok that was long 😂 sorry! Fundamentally it just goes to show it's really personal 🤷
 
I moved to Basingstoke
For a variety of reasons - work and more affordable housing being the main ones.

Basingstoke itself was a 💩 hole and nothing would tempt me to go back

That said, it’s well situated and accessible, there was a reasonable horse scene and there were nice enough villages on the outskirts
 
Bristol/Bath areas? Lovely cities and gorgeous countryside around it. I don’t know it well but it’s connected to main roads and trains plus there is a lot happening in the cities. Also some nice equestrian venues within a couple of hours?

Definitely not Herefordshire/Shropshire 🤣 we moved here 5 years ago and it is beautiful but absolutely dead! We are an hour from a motorway and oh my god it makes a difference to life!
 
Was also going to say somewhere East Midlands - yoi can’t go far wrong with Leicestershire (Im a bored and bred Leicestershire lass) as it’s very horsey, you’ve got Leicester and Notts close by and there are loads of competition venues. Specifically Melton Mowbray side towards Oakham is lovely. I’m in Lincolnshire now and it’s also lovely but not as much in the way of social as everything is so spread out but I’m in my 30s and quite antisocial but it wouldn’t suit some! 🤣
 
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Manchester is meant to be very up and coming. I don't know what the horse scene is like round there but I went to this city for a few days for a conference and liked it.

I was going to also suggest Oxford as have friends up that way and they are always going out to gigs and threatre as well as nice walks but it is expensive.

Norwich is a university town a lot going on but the countryside is very flat round there.
 
If you want to stay in the SE, then Reading is actually alright. Not the prettiest town, but a decent size with things going on, good transport links and really easy access to lots of countryside.
 
I agree with Leicestershire. There are so many great competition centres and arena hires, and some lovely hacking. I’m pretty central Leicestershire and we have great hacking on our doorstep, 3 amazing cross country courses, 4 huge competition centres and multiple other arena hires. And there’s much more within a 45 minute drive.

Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, even Sheffield etc are all easily accessible and you’ll probably be able to do what you want socially.

Easy to get around as straightforward to get onto the M1 and M42 (depending on where in Leicestershire you are).
 
While I’m not in my 20’s any longer within 5 miles of me there are at least 9 yards, a mix of full, part, DIY and track (being built as I type) Depending on your interests hacking is good but there are roads, a 5 minute walk to a BE XC course, another 5 minutes in a trailer to a smaller XC course. Further afield several well maintained gallops for hire, Aston, Offchurch, Bury Farm and Solihull to mention a few along with some great riding clubs. One day events are organised locally by Horse Events and for leagues there is the Cotswold Cup.

Road links are excellent to both up and down the country so easy to get to anywhere and you can be in London or Birmingham within an hour on the train. Housing wise we have small villages, large villages, new build estates and apartments in towns where everything is on your doorstep.

I moved from Winchester 13 years ago where life was frenetic, got back into horses after 25 years and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else but here now.
 
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