Glamping with horses

[JustAPony]

Hi all,
Just looking for some opinions.
We have a few acres and our own horses. My DH and I are toying with the idea of putting a couple of glamping pods in the field to rent out. We are in a fairly touristy area and there isn’t a site within 10-15 miles of us.
So to the dilemma... my DH thinks it would be an idea to market them to horsey people-bring your own horse and get your own paddock beside your pod.
We are about an hour from the beach with a trailer and ten minutes with trailer to forestry. We don’t have an arena and it would be unlikely that we would build one.
Hacking direct from here is good after just under half a mile of very busy A road so probably not recommended for most.
Do you think that people would be interested in this? DH thinks that since they have boxed to get here then they will be happy box to ride. I’m not so convinced...
Thanks!

If I'd boxed to get somewhere I wouldn't want to box to ride. I'd also want to go somewhere that offered better hacking/beach/etc. above what we had at home. I think you need to ask yourselves what the main benefits for riders would be? Is it an area of natural beauty, for example?

I think it sounds a lovely idea in principle but I agree that I wouldn't really want to box to ride if I was paying to stay somewhere with horse on holiday.

Did something similar in New Forest many many years ago and it was worth it because we could hack straight out onto the Forest from the site

I've taken my horse on b&b holidays but I have always been somewhere with great hacking (beach, 6000 acres of commons) straight from the site. I wouldn't be interested in boxing up again, except for the odd very special ride, or in negotiating a busy road to get to hacking.

Same thoughts really
Sounds lovely but the only point would be for the hacking and having to box somewhere defeats the object, I can do that from home .
So maybe just glamping might be a better option.

I agree, would not want to box to hacking or go on busy road. Have done this before but eg straight out onto New Forest or Dartmoor. The hacking you have is worse than at home so would not take horses there.
Also, how would the glamping in a paddock with the horse work? Would not want horse in same field as tent due to our/their safety, eg guy ropes, barbecue etc. Would they be alongside, would you use electric fencing?

I would want to be able to hack from the door or I’d just box to some good hacking near me.

I agree. If I'd boxed up to travel to you, I wouldn't want to have to do that again to get to a good area. I think you'd need to have direct access to countryside or just a short, safe road ride to a beach.

If the glamping pods are successful and you get good interest, how about offering rides/lessons to visitors? Not sure how insurance etc would work but may be worth looking into. As a child, I remember staying somewhere where I rode / hung out (made a nuisance of myself I expect!) at the stables on site every day!

Thanks everyone. You have all echoed what I said to him but he wouldn’t believe me! It seems that you lot are very persuasive though and he has written off that idea.
Thank you!

PennyRoyal I like your thinking and it’s something I’d love to do,however insurance costs and lack of real facilities would make it a non starter.

You say hacking is good after half a mile on a busy A road.

Can you look carefully on your map, and work if a route could be provided alongside the A road but inside the hedge, and which farmers would be affected BUT would also be of great benefit to the local community - ie can it link places or link between other paths? I'm not sure but you could possibly get them onside as part of a higher stewardship scheme, which gives them more money? Either way do your research.

Then scour the local council pages, charity pages, www.pathsforall.org.uk/cmp-grants etc etc to see if any grants are available or section 106 money could be made available for a safer route for cyclists/horses/pedestrians.

If you can get the landowners onside (and they gain from it) , and get the path built effectively for free it's worth looking further at the project.

So If you can link to the off road paths off road then yes, it's a good plan.

Otherwise no it's not. Just have normal glamping without horses. An hour to the coast is still a lot, we are an island and a large % of the population is under an hour from the coast or not much more.

Ariela I’ll look into that. Not sure it would work for various geographical reasons but I will have a look,thanks!
We are only half an hour from the coast but best horsey beach is about an hour with the trailer.

You would need a riding school licence and insurance to do rides, not worth the hassle I would have thought. Glamping still sounds great though.

I would have thought you would get paid quite a lot for a nice glamping pitch in the countryside and not that much more if you add the horse holiday element. Then there is all the clearing up after the horses and the worrying possibility of them having something infectious or leaving worms. Far less work for the money to stick to the people only breaks.

The one place I have been to for riding holidays that also has people staying with their own horses is lovely, the riding is straight out onto the fells there.

There is the disadvantage of the road and I suspect that unless you are super luxurious it wold not be so attractive for riders to be in tents or yurts as a comfy farm house or cottage which is all warn and has a deep bath is what you really want to come back to at the end of the ride.

Glamping with hot tubs is one thing local FB pages has people asking for recommendations