The Andrews Bowen team of equestrian designers have worked alongside David Sheerin, Wellington Riding’s General Manager, to ensure the new competition facilities are not only practical for day to day use for all the equestrian needs of this multi-disciplinary centre, but also is future proofed to host international competitions & championships over years to come.
“We are delighted to be involved in this exciting project for Wellington Riding. With Wellington being one of the UK’s biggest & best-known equestrian centres, we trust the addition of these new facilities by our Andrews Bowen team will further enhance this reputable equestrian centre.” David Andrews of Andrews Bowen.
The new arena will provide 8000 square metres of performance area & will be landscaped into the existing site to provide excellent viewing for spectators, trade stand space & competitor ease of access. The arena design has focused on delivering a true international atmosphere for competitions & demonstrations of all calibres. A grass apron will be created between the surfaced edge & the perimeter fencing to create the feeling of space, this apron will extend beyond the arena at one end to open out to include a water feature framed by a raised bank with a local woodland back drop.
The arena will be positioned to integrate into the established facilities to compliment the Duke’s Hall Indoor Arena & the other three existing arenas to offer further warm up options. The new arena will be strategically facing the decked clubhouse balcony so a perfect location to enjoy farm shop quality food al fresco from Wellington Riding’s café restaurant with licenced bar.
The quality of the Andrews Bowen ProWax surface & the dedicated arena maintenance team at Wellington Riding will ensure this new arena has the longevity to host the highest level of competition across a range of equestrian sports. Wellington Riding already runs successful affiliated competitions on a regular basis, nonetheless this new arena will give enormous flexibility to improve the scale, timings & quality of shows in the South East drawing a wider equestrian demographic from further regions.
Wellington Riding will now be running British Showjumping outside during the summer months in the new arena, with classes up to 1.30m this year & progressing to 1.40m in 2018 as well as having the advantage of not being weather dependant with two indoor arenas available as warm ups. The new arena landscaping has also been crafted with British Eventing in mind to make an interactive & semi-permanent Arena Eventing course. Our prestigious British Dressage Premier League (8-11th June) will be a perfect platform for the new arena’s inaugural show to officially open it for competition & to celebrate it at Wellington Riding’s annual Gala Evening on Saturday 10th June.
Affiliated shows will continue to run on Sundays & Mondays at Wellington Riding but the new arena will now enable Saturdays to be dedicated to unaffiliated shows while still facilitating riding school clients using the existing arenas. Mid-week the new arena will remain set up from the previous weekend’s show to offer schooling with arena hire on an hourly/daily basis. The new arena & its purpose built clubhouse facilities (including the conference room) will also be available to be exclusively hired by organisations to run their own shows/demos/training/residential camps etc.
It is not only this iconic new arena development happening at Wellington Riding, the entire centre is currently undergoing an extensive transformation into an international venue. It will also feature an equine therapy centre complete with the latest Activo-Med water treadmill on schedule to open end of May 2017, followed by a gym with rider treatment facilities on the top floor of the clubhouse, extended lorry parking & a new access road via the B3349. There is an exciting event calendar already booked for 2018/2019 at Wellington Riding with new high profile sponsorship opportunities on-site & also at its award winning Horse Trials held annually over the August Bank Holiday.