About
Philip and Julie Nixon farm at Little Whittington together with their daughter Philippa.
The farming enterprise consists of over 300 breeding cattle and 500 breeding ewes. They also have many acres of corn mainly grown for feeding their own livestock. More recently the farm has turned into an organic enterprise and therefore does not use any fertilisers or chemicals on the land and the surrounding area.
The idea for the cross country course arose following the end of a countryside stewardship scheme. When the stewardship scheme had ended all the strips around the fields were left and not reploughed. Julie and friends enjoyed riding around the area without having to negotiate any busy roads or open gates. When pony club visited jumps would also be put in place for them to use.
The project has been ongoing for about 2 years. Julie decided to see if there were any grants available to fund part of the idea. Following a great amount of effort and paperwork a small grant was obtained from
Julie felt it was very important that the new course they were providing would cater for everyone from pleasure riding to eventing. With that in mind course designing and building began towards the end of March this year. Those that have been involved in the designing and building of the new course are from the local area. Martin Bell, an agricultural contractor has completed all the ground work and Mal Johnston, a fencing contractor has been responsible for the building of the course.
Work on the water complex gets under way
Now completed, the brand new course had it's open day on Sunday 4th July 2010, 10am to 4pm. The course is set in around 150 acres of grassland with jumps ranging from 1ft to 3ft6in. The course will be open every Wednesday for further details click here.
For pictures of the new course click here.
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