It was with huge disbelief that Beverley Smit, owner of Cranbourne Farm Livery Yard, learnt that Jeskyns Farm, next door to her dressage yard close to Blue Water, had been purchased by the Forestry Commission.

When maps were drawn up, it became clear that there would be hundreds of acres of off-road riding right next door. “We couldn’t believe or luck!”, said Beverley. “It is wonderful to know that we never have to go on a road again. The way people drive these days, it is quite scary to go on a road with your horse. At Cranbourne Farm, where we have several youngsters, it will be great to be able to hack quietly around hundreds of acres of Forestry Commission land, without worrying about the traffic.

The Jeskyns rangers paid a visit to our farm and told us the design of Jeskyns will be similar to that of Thames Chase (www.forestry.gov.uk/thameschase ), which is beautiful, so we are delighted. There is also parking for horse boxes at Shorne Country Park and a bridle way linking Jeskyns to Shorne Country Park proposed in the next few months.

Our liveries, many of whom are happy hackers, are excited about the off-road riding facilities and have gone for long rides to check out the scenery. When the weather is better they can go off for the day with a pub stop at lunch!

Meanwhile the liveries that have competition horses (including Beverley!), find it useful to have off-road riding because as horses get fitter they get sillier and motorists are unaware of the dangers surrounding a fit competition horse!

Also, because it is all fenced in, if an unfortunate accident does occur in Jeskyns, we know that the horses are fenced in and will not stray on to the roads but will walk down to the gate opposite the yard gate.

It is wonderful to know that our efforts with planting trees and hedges and organic practices at Cranbourne Farm will be reciprocated next door. We now think that we have the perfect yard.

We are two minutes from the A2, five minutes from Blue Water, and ten minutes from the M25, which means that we are well connected from a competition point of view, yet the hacking and the setting here is what one would expect from a yard deep in the Kent countryside. Competition horses get a great deal of stress in their lives and its nice to know they can chill out and unwind when they are at home.

We can’t wait for Spring to watch the next stage of the planting but in the meantime we are already enjoying the lovely peaceful riding.

For more information about Jeskyns, see www.forestry.gov.uk/northkent

Or call Beverley about her yard at 01474 813 977, mobile: 07721 519849 (www.cranbournefarmdressage.co.uk).