The site before the digger arrived to clear the area

During the summer of 1999 we started looking at properties with enough land to keep a horse on. To me one of the main pleasures of owning a horse is looking after it myself. I must say that mucking out in all weathers is not always enjoyable, but to be able to pop out at any time of the day or night to check that all is well is what it is all about. We did have a fairly limited budget, as far as equestrian properties go, but even with one hundred thousand pounds to spend, our options were not as forthcoming as you would imagine. Nor, due to work commitments, did we have all the time in the world to look for our ideal property; the only saving grace was that we were not tied to a particular area, so we started shopping around. Eventually we narrowed our choice down, discovering that you could buy a lot more for your money in South Yorkshire than in North Yorkshire. Apparently in one village in nearby Lincolnshire there are over three hundred privately owned horses!

All cleared and just waiting for the stables to arrive

A bungalow had just become available on the outskirts of a lovely village called Westwoodside, in South Yorkshire; we instantly loved the house, which was set in an acre of garden with a lot of useful outbuildings, and the riding looked good with miles of bridle paths and river banks to go at and no main roads to contend with.

Suddenly, it was all systems go. Within six weeks we were on the move. Fortunately I was able to find an excellent livery yard nearby for my horse, Kite, but this was to be a very temporary arrangement as I had always dreamt about Kite coming to live with us at Park Cottage! Within another month my dream had come true. Kite has never liked being kept on his own and a companion was very quickly found. My friend’s horse Smokey was retiring from competition and was to join us as soon as the stables were erected, hence the need for two stables.

There have been many articles published about stable design and construction, but when I decided that I wanted to put stables up in my back garden I did not have the answers to my questions, so I called on the expertise of a stable manufacturer that I had known for some time. We had recently featured in an equestrian publication the completion of a purpose built livery yard in Yorkshire; this was a farm diversification project and was a brilliantly designed yard with over twenty boxes, tack rooms, hay stores etc., but it was so far removed from what I had in mind, that I hardly dared to ask the questions.

"Do I need planning consent?" …. "Where should we put the stables?" …. "What do we need?" …. "How much will it cost?" …. "Do I need a concrete base?" …. There was certainly a lot to consider, but I suddenly began to feel that the dream was not impossible.

continues........

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