It's wagons roll for horse fair in Cumbria

The wonderful Shacklabank Free Range Holidays, near Sedbergh in Cumbria, is laying on a once-in-a-lifetime, three-day culture break, from May 30 – June 1, to coincide with the annual Romany spectacular of the Appleby Horse Fair.

Shacklabank, just voted the Tourism Experience of the Year in the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2008, will be tailoring its walks across the velvet curtain-like Howgills, to enable guests to get a feel for life as a Romany, by living the lifestyle for a weekend.
The stay at Shacklabank Farm will enable guests to not only walk a winding path across beck and fell, but also to step inside the shoes of a Romany traveller and sample this most historic of Cumbrian occasions.

Shacklabank’s owner and shepherdess, Alison O’Neill, has firm friendships with many of the true Romany travellers and will be walking alongside some of them, with her walking guests, to reach the historic horse fair dating back to 1685.

Her guests will also sit around the campfire with the travellers, enjoying tea, folk music and many colourful stories, punctuated by the sound of fiddle playing, as the smell of pungent woodsmoke wafts on the breeze. They could possibly also ride to Appleby Fair, with Alison, during their break, entering the town on horseback in true Romany style.

The highlight of the experience will be to sleep in a real Romany vado, an open Bow Top wagon, or a Redding wagon, at Shacklabank Farm, where crisp white sheets await those who share Alison’s view that ‘you cannot walk in a straight line when the road bends’.

During their stay, they will enjoy the fabulous homemade food on which Alison prides herself, as well as helping with chores around the farm, if they wish, and learning all about Cumbria’s rich heritage.

The Appleby Horse Fair is the largest horse fair in Europe and, in 2007, attracted 1,400 caravanners, in traditional vardoes, bow top wagons and more modern trailers and tents. Horses are everywhere in the Cumbrian town, in the river, on the banks, on the green, along lanes and roadsides and tied up outside hotels, pubs and shops.

Romany travellers are there to trade their horses, be they black, white, piebald, Dales cobs, fell ponies, massive shires, or Vanners – the best quality coloured horses. Horses can be seen riding into town kicking up the dust, or trotting in traps, whilst others are ridden bareback into town and then washed in the River Eden, to be smartened ready for sale.

Words like raklis, dodikins, mukros, chavvies, kel and stringer are just some that will enter the vocabulary of Alison’s guests, who will also learn a few songs to take home to sing around their own campfire.

Walks to Appleby to sample this unique occasion are just part of the wonderful Shacklabank experience. Alison O’Neill has permission to walk where she wishes and to allow her guests to visit spots they might otherwise never see, be that for a dip in a cold tarn, or to watch wildlife in the meadows, on the fells, or in the dramatic Cumbrian sky.

The weekend costs £300 for a stay on May 30, 31 and June 1. This includes all the fresh, farm food served at Shacklabank, accommodation and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk in a Romany traveller’s shoes.

Guests will also be able to hire the vado, bow top and Redding at other times of year, to have the Romany experience at Shacklabank Farm.

For more information visit Shacklabank.co.uk.