longest Ulley is about 12 miles from me, we are the other side, in between R and B. The lake is an old quarry/pit they flooded after it closed back in the early 80s and there is a nature reserve one side, and a golf course the other with the trans penine trail through the middle of it all. It's really beautiful and we are lucky really. Lots of tracks and trails you can walk/bike/ride on.
I really need to move the ponies over this way so we can access them all. Livery yards are such a minefield though. Yards with access to nice off road hacking tend to be big, posh and very expensive with loads of schools and facilities. But never much grazing, lots of rules and regulations. So better for facilities but the ponies would maybe miss their 247 turnout. And with lots of generally women, it can be cliquey and bitchy which I am too old for.
There is a small private yard I know that has the access to the hacking, beautiful stables, plenty of grazing but no school, but is hacking distance to a big equestrian centre you can hack to and hire the school. The problem with that one is the farmer that owns it isn't horsey and if I can't physically get there I would be a bit stuck. Last time I passed there was a gobshite woman who had 'taken over the livery side' to 'sort it out'. She corrected me while chatting about a term I correctly used, then proceeded to lecture me. Dds face was 😮 then 🤐 as I counter corrected her, explaining that although the terminology in English (breaking) may mean ruining something, in equestrian terms it is unambiguous in it's meaning, accepted as a term, used by the BHS and other associations and professionals such as farriers and vets, and covers the process from start to finish, from groundwork to riding away in 3 paces. Whereas 'starting' to most means something different and could refer to different parts of the same process.
Woman looked a bit put out that I hadn't bowed down to her superior knowledge, so I haven't been back. I know more than I look like I know, don't shove my opinions down peoples throats, but can't stand horsey folk like that who think they know everything and go around trying to tell others what they know. Unless I ask I am not interested.
So yeah. Am going to nip back up at some point and see if gobshite is still there and maybe consider a move. But I say this every few months and then don't change. Our current yard is OK. We can do what we want, hardly anyone ever around, loads of grazing and a school, just no hacking. It's cheap, but 8 miles away so a ballache to go to as much as I would like.
Need to win lottery and buy a big house with land!