Avon Valley Ride Information (2021)

Venue: Park Farm, Cold Ashby Road, Stanford on Avon, Northampton NN6 6JS

Venue Plan (2021)

A bit of History

The Avon Valley ride was originally held from the Bath Hotel Shearsby in the late 1980’s with its main event being the 60 mile Denbeigh Slate, prior to its move to Cirencester. The route was a full circular 60 miles with vet gates out on course, one in a small village called Laughton in Leicestershire the other at Park Farm, Stanford on Avon. It ran for a few years before the organsiers put all their energy into Cirencester.

In the early 2000’s it started again for a couple of years from the current venue at Park Farm, which provides nearly 10 miles of good off road riding over the Hemplow hills and along the old railway line as it goes through the Avon Valley just to the east of where it was flooded in the 1920’s to create Stanford Reservoir.

The views from the top of the Hemplow hills over the Avon valley are stunning. The river Avon is a small river at this stage and forms the boundary of the counties of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.

We are hoping that this year will be the start of many more years for the Avon Valley ride, with the potential to make it a large FEI ride in years to come.

Ride Day (2021)

Please do not arrive more than ½ hour before your Vet time unless you are corralling overnight, and please keep to your vet time as we are trying to control the queues at the vets.

If you catch other horses on the route, please be courteous and pass with your 2 meter social distance.

Please keep to the 2m social distances and respect any information given to you by our officials and any one-way systems that we put in place, particularly around the secretary’s office.

There will be portable toilets for your use, there is water in the parking field and on the far end of the barn in front of the vetting area. There will also be a butty van for you to use - please be courteous when queuing.

Please remember to bring your own Hand Sanitizer, Face Masks and Gloves.

Once you have completed your ride, please do not stay longer than is necessary.

Dogs

Dogs must be kept under control at all times and are not allowed in the vetting or vet hold areas.

Corralling and Camping

Corralling is in the same field as Parking. Please go to the far end of the field to set up corrals to leave room at the top for day parking. You can stay in your trailers or lorries in the parking field, but not in tents. We have a separate field for tents, but you MUST let the organisers know in advance if you plan to sleep in a tent.

Stabling

We are struggling to find stabling this year due to the coranavirus regulations, but if anyone needs stabling please contact the organiser as I have a couple of options: Larissa Whiley ☎: 07962 301796.

Crewing

We have not put in specific crew locations as we believe they reduce crew enjoyment. However, we do expect crews to behave in accordance with the Covid regulations and be courteous to other road users. If this fails to happen we may need to put specific crew points in for future years.

Having said that, there is to be NO crewing in the villages of Clay Cotton, Elkington or Cold Ashby out of consideration to the locals and NO crewing at the bottom of the Byeway via Winwick.

Recommended crew locations are:

On road between Yelvertoft and Elkington before CP1;

On road before CP3;

Top of the Old Railway LIne on road near South Kilworth after CP4.

Getting to the Venue

From the M1

Leave the motorway at junction 20 and turn towards Lutterworth, where you will pick up signs for Stanford Hall. Follow signs to Stanford Hall. Pass Stanford Hall on your left and travel on through the village of Stanford On Avon. Once you have exited the village take the next left onto Welford Road (this is a narrow road soon after a steep left hand bend). The venue is just after the large barns on your right.

(If you are travelling from the north you will be on the edge of the Leicester lockdown area. Please make sure you do not need to stop at the Leicester Forest East Services.)

From the M6 West.

Leave M6 at Junction 1 and head towards Lutterworth. At A5 turn right towards London and you will pick up signs to Stanford Hall which you will pass on your left. Travel on through the village of Stanford On Avon. Once you have exited the village take the next left onto Welford Road. (This is a narrow road soon after a steep left hand bend). The venue is just after the large barns on your right.

From the A14 East.

Leave A14 at Junction 1. Turn left toward Northampton take the first right towards Cold Ashby. In Cold Ashby take the right fork onto Stanford Road. The Venue will be on your left after about 3 miles. Please be careful, it will be a very tight turn into the venue field as it is almost turning back on yourself.

Schedule Guide (2021)

Saturday 29th May

There is a Social Ride taking place in the morning so please do not arrive early.

Vetting for all national classes will start from 12:00 with the first horses away by 12:30.

Sunday 30th May

Vetting for the 80km CER will start at 8:00 with the start at 8:45 and prize giving at 17:00

Vetting for the 80km GER will start at 8:30 with the first horse away at 9:00
             (Both of these 2 classes have 2 vet gates of 30 minutes each)

Vetting for the 64km Class will start at 9:00 and all other classes will follow on.

The start of the second day of the 2-day 80km will be from 9:00. Horses may be asked to present to the vets for a lameness check 15 minutes before start time.