West Bay: Park And Trot To The Seaside
Thursday 15th October 2009
There have been no licensed horse-drawn carriages in West Dorset for 200 years – until now.
Kate Bromfield, partner Mark Perkins, and Winston, the six-year-old cob are plying their ‘park and trot’ scheme in West Bay on any sunny Sunday they can.
For Winston it is a dream come true after plying his trade as a scrap metal horse in Hull and for keen horsewoman Kate it’s a joy to be combining her passion for driving horses with a business, supported by her partner, saddler and groom Mark.
Ms Bromfield, 44, who also runs a gardening business in Symondsbury, said: “I wanted to do some carriage driving with horses. Brian used to be a taxi driver and I thought ‘why don’t I be a hackney cab driver as well?’ “Because West Bay is really popular with tourists I thought it would be good to go down there and give people lifts to the seaside.”
Ms Bromfield has been driving horses for the last 15 years but had to learn a new style approved by the British Driving Society so she could drive professionally.
“It is like learning to drive before you take your test, you have to learn to drive properly.
“I had to have an assessment with the British Driving Society and take a road test and have an MoT for my vehicle to be able to use it as a hackney carriage.”
She has owned cobs for a good few years but counts herself lucky to have found Winston.
“He’s lovely. He’s only six but he is really good in traffic and good with people and he loves working – he is a real working type of horse.
“I bought him on as a young horse, trained him up to get used to different things. I have been taking him out for the last year really in preparation.”
She found the perfect horse and has the perfect carriage for him – but not before buying the wrong one, a type of market carriage that would have been difficult for passengers to get into and needed two horses to pull.
The carriage she is using is an English carriage, at least 80 years old with wooden wheels and a hood.
Ms Bromfield added: “Some people say Queen Victoria had an input into the design of it because she didn’t want to sit up with her groom and ladies in waiting, she wanted a seat to herself, so she made an extra seat for the driver.”
The first outing in West Bay has already proved a success and the couple hope to spend the half term week there.
“When we went it was really sunny and everybody did seem to like the idea of it, people were waving and taking pictures.
“There were a couple of annoyed drivers having to wait for a minute or two but on the whole it was really friendly and a lovely day.”
They will be operating from West Bay car park and rides cost £5 per person to the seafront or booking having the carriage to yourselves will cost £20 for a 20 minute round trip.
“People don’t understand that it is a lot of work. It is not just when we are sitting there driving the horse, there is a lot of work behind the scenes. We have tried to make it affordable but we had to be realistic.”
Source; BridportNews.co.uk
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