Previous riders in the South Cotswolds
If you've ridden the South Cotswolds with Bridle Rides, send us your photos and stories and we'll put them up here for you.
Kathryn Parker and friends - August 2007
This photo is of Kathryn on the far left riding Prince, with her friends (from left to right), Rosie on Ruby, Katie on Oliver, Gaynor on Murphy and Jo on Charlie. It was taken outside our host's farm near Westonbirt, and the girls are all ready to set out for their first petal ride.
Kathryn sent us an e-mail attaching the photos in January 2008 saying "We had a great holiday last year which we booked through you, and we're hoping to book another one this year. Our party of five went to the South Cotswolds in August, and despite the awful weather, still had a great holiday!" These ladies all belong to National Forest Riding Club, and booked a one-centre holiday based near Westonbirt (Tetbury area) for their first attempt at bridle riding. 2007 was probably the wettest summer since records began, which explains why the countryside in the photos below looks so green and spring-like - very strange for mid-August!
The photo below shows Kathryn on her daughter's coloured 14.3 pony, Prince, with Rosie and her chestnut mare, Ruby, following a bridleway through Westonbirt Arboretum.
Jo took the one above of the other girls at the Millennium Garden near Tresham, which is near the end of the Badminton petal ride.
Christine Percival & Hazel Brace - April 2004
Christine and Hazel did the same one-centre holiday based near Tetbury. The photo above shows Hazel holding Christine's 13.3 hand pony by the Worcester Ride in Badminton Park.
The girls got caught out by the rain on their first day as you can see from the photo (right) of Hazel approaching Chavenage Green.

Christine said in her feedback "How silly we were to listed to a third party's advice on the weather and therefore ditched our waterproof trousers to save on space and weight. We were well and truly caught out! It didn't spoil our day, but we did look forward to a hot bath afterwards!
All in all they had "a super holiday in the Cotswolds with gorgeous scenery and comfortable bed and breakfast for us and our horses".
Lynette Ashworth and Tracey Jervis - September 2004
Lynette and her daughter, Tracey, tried a 3-day place to place ride which took in Cirencester, Miserden and Pinbury Park. They wrote to us at Christmas enclosing a selection of lovely photos and saying "We really did have the most wonderful time and the horses were marvellous, we honestly didn't have one problem". Lynette also praised our route-directions in her feedback form, advising that the "route-guides were very detailed - we felt very confident and didn't go wrong at all".
The photo on the left is of Tracey and the horses lunching at The Bell Inn, Sapperton, which has a "Horses Only" post and rail corral!
The one below, which you may recognise from the previous page, is of Lynette and her horse, Notable, gazing out over the hills near Withington and Andoversford.
Below is another pub shot of the horses at the Seven Tuns, Chedworth. Lynette's 19 year old mare, Notable (on the left) is ex-Kings Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, while Tracey's horse, Henri (on the right) is an 18 year old thoroughbred.
Anne Price, Jeannie Smith & Caroline Jones - September 2003
The three ladies opted for the one-centre holiday near Westonbirt in the south of the network. Anne said after the ride "Caroline, Jeannie and I all enjoyed ourselves very much indeed - and although we were all a little apprehensive as we started off on our adventure on a rather foggy morning - by the time we reached The Bell at Avening three hours later we were all much more relaxed (and rather stiff too)! However, by that time the sun was shining - in fact it was a glorious weekend weatherwise - and having downed a shandy and enjoyed a sandwich, we used the pub tables as mounting blocks (!) and very happily continued our ride".
The photo above is of Anne, Jeannie and Caroline near Chavenage - and the one on the left is a "between the ears" shot taken near Westonbirt Arboretum in the south of the network.
The one below shows the girls on the last leg of the ride back to their host's farm at Knockdown, which is about 4 miles north of Tetbury.
Anne sent us some really detailed feedback about our routes, which was great. She made one final comment . . . "with all the hours of work you must put into organising these rides, the least we could do was give you some decent feedback. We cannot imagine how you compile all the instructions - it must take ages". (It does - but that's what were here for! Bobbie)