There's also a five mile farm ride and cross-country course through the woods and the beautiful Essex countryside.

Wix regularly run affiliated and unaffiliated horse shows and cater for all riding levels.

Regular horse shows include dressage and show jumping, hunter trials and eventer trials. Wix Equestrian also host an annual one day event.

There are several perpetual trophy leagues in both the dressage and show jumping.

The riding schools, country rides and arenas (both inside and outside) are available for hire to individuals or groups. Full sets of show jumps are available, if required.

CONTACT:
Wix Equestrian Centre, Clacton Road , Wix, Nr. Manningtree, Essex. CO11 2RU.
Tel: 01255 870744.

Tiptree Equestrian Centre has a large stable block suitable for 24 horses and a smaller pony block which accomodates 5 ponies. We offer assisted DIY, Part Livery and Working Livery, which can be either DIY or Part We have a large sand and rubber indoor arena which will soon be upgraded to include a viewing gallery - a floodlit outdoor ménage with new all weather surface and we are also planning to build a cross country course later this year

Beside the sandy beaches, there are beautifully restored themed gardens, bowling greens, two theatres, a golf course and a Sports and Leisure Centre.

Clacton Carnival and Jazz Festival in the high season, Clacton Shopping Village, a major factory outlet shopping village opened in 1998, a vibrant Victorian pier, leisure centre, sport on land and water, Highfield Holiday Park and a lively nightlife, or dine and relaxing as you would expect from a major English seaside resort: fish and chips, pie and mash, Italian or Chinese food as well as Pubs, Restaurants and the end of pier Cafe.

The Clacton seafront gardens are a carpet of glorious colour throughout the season and provide a backdrop for miles of golden sandy beaches and the town's fun packed pier.

The town and its beaches are popular with visitors in the summer, and there is an annual entertainment programme including the Clacton Carnival and Clacton Airshow, an aerial display involving historic aircraft such as the Lancaster Bomber, Spitfires, helicopters and the Red Arrows.

As well as all the daytime fun Clacton offers a varied and vibrant nightlife with its two theatres, The Princes and West Cliff, attracting top showbiz names and is is one of the last theatres in the country to put on an old style summer show. Clacton also has a great variety of pubs, clubs and restaurants to suit all tastes.

Clacton on Sea History

Great Clacton was founded by the Celts in c.100BC. There are some vague traces of Romans using the Clacton area as a seaside resort. The name Clacton dates from c.500 AD when the area was settled by Saxons. The original name, Claccingaton, means 'the village of Clacc's people'. The Domesday Book, a census conducted by William the Conqueror, records the village as Clachintuna.

Early village life was dominated by St John's Church which is now the oldest building in Clacton. It has been suggested that smugglers may have used a tunnel from the coast to the Ship Inn to smuggle goods into the country, but this is discounted by serious historians. Nowadays, this area is called Great Clacton.

The modern day Clacton-on-Sea was founded by Peter Bruff in 1871 as a seaside resort. Originally the main means of access was by sea. Ships came and docked at Clacton Pier, which now offers an amusement arcade and many other forms of entertainment. People who wanted to come by road had to go through Great Clacton. In the 1920s, London Road was built to cope with the influx of holidaymakers. Later, in the 1970s, the eastern section of the A120 was opened obviating the need for Clacton visitors to go through Colchester.

In archaeology, Clacton is famous as the eponymous site of the lower Palaeolithic Clactonian industry of flint tool manufacture. "Clactonian" is the name given for the man whose remains were found at Clacton from that period.

The origin of the Dunmow Flitch Trials remains obscure although it is believed to be around 900 years old.

The trials, which take place in the Market Place in Dunmow, involve each couple kneeling on pointed stones in front of the jury. There they are questioned over their sworn oath that they have not quarrelled in the past year. Winning couples are carried through the streets by bearers at shoulder height on the Flitch Chair to receive their bacon. Unsuccessful couples receive  a consolation prize of a gammon joint.

The Victorian writer William Harrison Ainsworth researched the story in which Sir Reginald FitzWalter and his wife, disguised as humble folk, presented themselves at Little Dunmow Priory asking for the prior's blessing on their year-old marriage. Impressed, he ordered his cook to present a flitch (side of bacon) to the lovers.

The couple then revealed their identity, giving lands to the prior on condition that a flitch is given to any couple who was prepared to make an oath that they had not repented of their marriage for a year and a day.

Recorded instances of successful Dunmow Flitch claimants go back to 1445.

In modern times, a pageant is staged every leap year, attracting worldwide television coverage. The 2004 court included many well-known celebrities including Claire Rayner OBE and Dave Monk from BBC Essex. Last year's Flitch Trials took place in Dunmow on the 12 July. The following people successfully claimed the bacon;

• Michael & Janet Denny (Rayleigh, Essex)
• Jeff Dotts & Erin Albers (Nashville, Tennessee, USA)
• Graeme Fearon & Amanda Horner (Ramsbury, Wilts.)
• Des & Claire Rayner (Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middx.)

Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned the Dunmow Flitch tradition in a matter-of-fact way in his Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale. Other literary mentions include an 18th century ballad opera by Henry Bate, produced in 1778 at the Haymarket Theatre under the title The Flitch of Bacon. One of the songs from the opera describes the winning of the flitch:

• Since a year and a day
• Have in love rolled away
• And an oath of that love has been taken,
• On the sharp pointed stones,
• With your bare marrow bones,
• You have won our famed Priory bacon.

The original custom of awarding a Flitch to those who can prove marital harmony is not unique to Dunmow.  There are references from across Europe of similar customs now long abandoned.  However the town is unique in continuing to reward marital harmony with a Flitch of Bacon well into the 21^st century.  With each Trial comes amusement, entertainment, renewed community spirit and another piece of history to a beautiful and prosperous town.

Long may it continue.

IBRC is based in Essex (Area 8 of British Riding Clubs ) and we use Writtle Agricultural College for many of our club events. The club has been running for approximately 20 years and has a membership of around 100 people. We are affiliated to British Riding Clubs and this means that, we are able to put forward teams of riders to compete in Dressage, Show Jumping, Horse Trials and Hunter Trials,

Ingatestone and Blackmore Riding Club is one of the Affiliated Riding Clubs who can enter you in team events in the Essex area ...

Longwood has been established for over 30 years not only as a competition centre but also as a B.H.S. Approved Riding School with on-site facilities including viewing gallery, cafeteria and tack shop. Our covered Arena is 100'x160' with a similar size silica sand and rubber ménage. There is ample parking for both cars and horseboxes. We are situated in the south east of England just off the A13.

Many people, especially those in the equestrian world, will already know Towerlands, which was built some 25 years ago by Thomas Hunnable, who had a vision for the best equestrian and leisure centre in the country. Towerlands was successfully run by the Hunnable family until August 2004.

Unex Towerlands was eventually taken over by the Unex Group and has undergone a major refurbishment programme, which has transformed the centre into a sporting, leisure, conference and equestrian event venue for the 21st century. Unex Towerlands boasts the largest outdoor all-weather equestrian arena in the UK and a completely new gel track surface has been installed in the indoor arena.

The restaurants and dining facilities have been upgraded to cater for high attendance at hosted International Shows. There is also a nine hole golf course, which is open to the public and has a newly built club house for use by memebers and non-members.

Unex Towerlands sits on a 120-acre site in the rolling Essex countryside. It has superb road, rail and air links, 10 minutes from the M11, 5 minutes to Braintree Train Station and 20 minutes from Stansted Airport.

Towerlands Park is host to almost weekly indoor & outdoor show jumping competitions, throughout the year, covering national and up to international level showjumping. The stabling complex, with permanent stabling for 121 horses, has room for a further 473 temporary stables and allows any size show jumping event to be staged.

RWRC is based in Essex (Area 8 of British Riding Clubs ) and we use a showground situated at Centre Oaks Farm at the end of Blountswood Road, just off MURRELS LANE, Church Road, Hockley as our base for events. We enter teams for the Area Qualifiers and usually manage to send teams to the Championships.