| Trail Riding Information |
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Sunday - arrive and meet fellow guests etc Monday - assessment and allocation of horses, etc Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, riding each day and staying overnight in various small hotels, inns.
Returning to Centre Friday for farewell dinner.
Saturday - depart after breakfast.
Routes will vary according to dates, weather etc, but all are based in the beautiful Southern Upland hills along the Scotland/England border.
Very historic and excellent off the road riding.
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| Centre Based Ride |
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Centre based holiday. - Four hours daily, a mix of tuition and riding out.Or riding out each day. High quality tuition from a BHS training yard. Levels of tuition to suit the individual. Accommodation in twin bedded en suite |
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| Transfers |
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Please enquire for transfer details and costs |
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| Other Activities |
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Arrangements can be made for Golf, Mountain Biking and Fishing for non riding guests. Please give plenty of notice if you wish to take one of these activities.
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| Whats Included |
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All horse riding, accommodation, food. |
| Trail Ride Day 1 |
| Sunday – Guests arrive and meet fellow riders, staff involved etc. Relaxing evening meal. |
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| Trail Ride Day 2 |
| Monday Today is spent allocating appropriate horses. Riders will take part in an assessment ride then we shall try out a suitable horse or two until all feel happy with their mount, and we are happy that the partnership will be good and safe. Discussion of the route, and relaxing evening meal. |
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| Trail Ride Day 3 |
| Tuesday – Move out after breakfast. Riders go by minibus to Biggar, (about fifteen minutes) where they mount up and the trail begins. First section leads across flat country with the Southern Upland hills rising before you. These are not high hills, but steep sided rounded hills, and the one time home to the Border Reivers – essentially lawless families who plundered from each other, and mostly across the border into England. They rode hardy ponies – and there is proof of 100 mile round trips, plus a couple of battles along the way!
We ride over the John Buchan Way, named to commemorate the author of The 39 Steps and other adventure books, who had connections with the village of Broughton where there is a small museum of his works. Lunch is take at a lonely ruined farm steading deep in the hills, amid the beckoning silence of the hills. Horses quietly graze as we picnic. We ride on to Stobo Valley, and over a second range of hills to Manor Valley where the horses are stabled for the night and the riders are met by our minibus and taken to our hotel choice for the evening.
Dinner at the hotel is a fun affair as the days events are relived!
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| Trail Ride Day 4 |
| Wednesday. After breakfast riders are collected and taken to their horses. We set off skirting the town of Peebles by using an ancient drovers road. These roads had walls on each side to make driving cattle easier, and to break the wind and snow. Many walls can still be seen today. Our route takes us close by Scotland’ oldest inhabited house – Traquair Castle. It is open to the public at certain times. Owned by the Stewarts, they locked an entry gate when Bonnie Prince Charlie failed in his bid to taken the Crown from the Hanovarians, and vowed the gate would remain locked until the Stewarts eventually gained the throne they thought they rightfully deserved. Needless to say the Stewarts never gained the throne – and the huge gate at Traquair remains rusty and locked! The views from the drover road across the Tweed Valley and superb, don’t forget to have a camera handy. Spend the evening at a small hotel near Traquair. |
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| Trail Ride Day 5 |
| Thursday From Traquair Village we ride high into the hills along one of the most famous of Scottish drovers routes – the Minch Moor. The route has a midpoint with a well called the Cheese Well. This spring was treated as sacred in ancient times, and travellers left gifts here for the fairies hoping for a safe passage over the Moor. Many left bread and cheese – hence the name. This was once the coach route from the border country to Edinburgh – you can marvel at how the ever got a team of horses and a coach over it! It was also used by Mary Queen of Scots in her flight south.
We drop down from the Moor and arrive at Bowhill House and Estate, where the horses are stabled for the night. Bowhill is the seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch, the largest landowners in Europe, owning much of southern Scotland. They are directly descended from the Scott’s of Buccleuch – one of the most notorious reiving families!! Buccleuch was located further south in those early times, in a very lonley moorland valley. Bowhill House is nearby, and the estate offers wonderful scope for an evening stroll. We stay at Ettrick Bridge a small atmospheric inn, deep in the Ettrick Valley, and real Brigadoon material!
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| Trail Ride Day 6 |
| Friday Breakfast and back to Bowhill by bus (10 minutes). Today we ride over the Buccleuch Trail, out by the Duke to allow horse riders to enjoy the fabulous countryside around the Ettrick and Yarrow Valleys. We pass Newark Castle, a sombre tower typical of hundreds that once were scattered across the borders, and were fortified to give safety from raiders. The route takes us up through sweet scented forests and out on to the hill tops high above the valleys, and their tumbling rivers. Silence and curlew cries, and the summer song of the skylark mark time with the quiet thud of hoofbeats. This is trail riding at its very best.
We Return to Bowhill late in the day, where we have afternoon tea, and the horses are taken home. We then enjoy a gentle scenic drive home by bus by different routes to let you see more of the beautiful border country scenery.
On return to Lanark we have a farewell dinner and a social evening.
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| Trail Ride Day 7 |
| Saturday Breakfast and depart. Hopefully vowing to return! |
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