Toll rides off road trust

[stroller]

Toll Rides Off-Road Trust

TROT (Toll Rides Off-road Trust) is a charitable trust dedicated to providing members with an extensive network of horse riding and carriage driving routes on privately owned, Forestry England & Woodland Trust land.

www.tollrides.org.uk

Has anyone had anything to do with these people? Horsey neighbour and a few others are looking looking for somewhere to ride, I can get two rides of 2 miles that will use 0.9ha each for a grass strip around arable fields 2.7m wide. Any thoughts?

 

[MRT]

What if they fall over a stick/rabbit hole and can blame you/your tracks?

 

[Bruce Almighty]

One of our landlords was into it about 10-15 years ago.
It didn't last long although it did seem a good idea, maybe it was the wrong location ?
Users had a fluorescent band around their riding hats to prove that they had paid

 

[Bury the Trash]

What if they fall over a stick/rabbit hole and can blame you/your tracks?

Make them sign a disclaimer ?

 

[MRT]

Make them sign a disclaimer ?

Its an idea, not sure it would prove enough if there was any possibility of claiming negligence

 

[flowerpot]

The Toll Ride Trust has been going for many years, particularly in Kent and the south-east. It is charity and was set up (by a farmer's wife) to help riders and farmers create riding routes by providing the membership document and administering subscriptions and payments to farmers calculated on the length of route on their land. Liability is one of the first things that landowners question, but the "local agent" - the rider who will liaise between riders and farmers - will carry out a risk assessment and the agreement that the riders sign does as much as possible to mitigate the possibility of liability, although all landowners have a duty of care, of course.

You won't make a fortune as it won't be used by masses of people in fact you would probably say that you never see anyone, but they will be there! Simple maintenance like an occasional roll and keep vegetation cut back makes it more attractive and hence more members. Some routes in Kent are up to 20 miles long and join up bridlepaths, quiet lanes and avoid busy roads, which might be narrow B roads carrying a lot of traffic. These longer routes go over several different farms to make a longer joined up route. There is nothing nicer than riding behind a hedge while lorries thunder past on the other side. A toll ride is more for local hacking than a "destination" ride where people will turn up in a horsebox and want to go out for a couple of hours and which need more input from the farmer.

 

[Bootneck]

We've got a few paths, as described above. Few riders, few problems, they do all the maintenance.

 

[sclb]

I had a short stretch across some of my land with TROT. It kept horses off the narrow lanes so I felt I was offering more of a service than making any money from it. The problem was that pedestrians wanted to walk along where they could see horses going.

 

[Lofty]

My cheque from TROT this year was £26. Can't decide whether to send it back and tell them to stick it, throw it in the bin or pay it in. Enough said. I'm out!

 

[roscoe erf]

My cheque from TROT this year was £26. Can't decide whether to send it back and tell them to stick it, throw it in the bin or pay it in. Enough said. I'm out!

Trot sounds like you’ve got the sh1!s

 

[flowerpot]

Payment depends on the number of riders using it, as well as the length each person provides. I always felt that there was going to be a gap between what riders could pay, or would pay, and how much the earning power from an acre of land. The better the route the more attractive to riders, but you can't magic them to appear and routes near a livery yard or a high horse population are going to get more usage. Some landowners are happy enough to keep riders and cars apart and don't worry too much about the money ( I agree that £26 is very little) but still keep control of the access as it is by permission only.

 

[som farmer]

we had a livery yard, was suggested to try it, never saw anyone use it, waste of time, and we had a decent track, but this area really good for green lanes.