AN East Lothian farmer is vying for a place on the equestrian map with plans to build three arenas and create the biggest horse-riding facility in the east of Scotland.
James Cunningham of Sunnyside Farm, near Haddington has applied for planning permission to build a large indoor arena and two outdoor arenas at an estimated cost of £500,000.
This would greatly enhance the farm's existing operation, Sunnyside Equestrian, run by Matthew and Emily Foster and including stables, horse sales and riding.
Cunningham said: "There will be something for everyone, whether showjumping, dressage or eventers. We will hold competitions, demonstrations and clinics, as well as just hiring out the facilities for people to come and ride."
He said that the centre would not be on the same scale as central Scotland's big three sites - at Rowallan in Ayrshire, Ingliston Country Club at Bishopton, and the Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) in West Lothian - but would firmly put his part of the country on the map for the first time.
"Further east from SNEC and right down to Newcastle there's nothing much at all, just indoor riding schools and small facilities that were never meant for commercial use. We are hoping there's a gap in the market. We've had a lot of support from riding clubs saying they would use our facilities."
Cunningham intends to have the arenas built by August and next year wants to add a café and tack shop. "Hopefully people will be attracted by the experience of coming down here."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article