Our purpose built 80mtr by 50mtr surface took a little getting past the planners but I feel the effort, the wait, and the investment has been worthwhile. The surface has been provided by Mansfield Sand and their new brand "Fibrelastic" is living up to all of their original promises. With a sweet combination of stability, grip and cushion, the surface has been jumped extensively by under affiliated and unaffiliated competition conditions and has come through with flying colours. A mixture of silica sand and fibres comprising Terylene and elastic gives this unique resistance to "slew" whilst having an element of spring, getting past the "dead" feel of some sand surfaces. To mix my metaphors, the proof of the pudding has been in the riding, a full programme of competition under very mixed weather conditions has shown the surface to be very adaptive and forgiving. In torrential rain and in tinder dry conditions the performance has been all we could have hoped it would be, and then some."

It must be the customers that have the final word; we have run a varied competition programme in the period since its completion despite some small teething problems in the preparation of the surface for competition. With regard to Dressage, in the initial stages while we were getting used to its requirements some of our dressage clients found it a little lumpy; our watering regime coupled with new harrowing and rolling equipment has solved these issues, and combination extensive watering with heavy rolling has produced near perfect conditions.

Our show jumping customers are some of our most direct and vocal and, almost without exception, they have been complimentary. The overwhelming opinion of the whole user group both for competition and training is extremely positive; the sheer scale of it is dramatic with 4000 square metres (one acre) being available allowing both warm up and jumping to take place on the same surface.

The surface is available for hire for both jumping and flat work; if the larger jumping area is used, a set of 12 Polyjumps are provided. Should a full course be required, the full BSJA course is left up on the day after competition, so if you want to introduce a youngster to the complexities of jumping not one but up to 15 jumps, or if you had an awful round the night before, the jumps will be there for you.

As an added advantage, take a moment during training to look around. By a happy fluke, the ménage has been sited in a location that provides a superb view of the surrounding countryside; I know that's not why you're there, but it's nice all the same!