About Us

Dorset Showground Facilities

The ALL WEATHER ARENA is landscaped in the countryside, a beautifully finished 80m x 52m Martin Collins clopf © and sand surface with undercover standing room for horses and spectators. Adjoining the surface is a warm up arena of 55m x 30m, which can be amalgamated into the large surface if required.

The ARENA is a well maintained and watered grass ring of around 2.5 acres in size, complete with a derby bank, with its own grass warm up and collecting ring. Spectator benches and the pavilion highlight the amphitheatre design of the ring, giving atmosphere to any event.

BRIDGE RING is a 60m x 80m flat grass ring with a warm up area adjacent. The quiet nature, level surface and trees lining the perimeter make this the perfect setting for young horses or novice riders.

Sponsors and Catering Pavilion

The pavilion overlooks the main arena, with spectator seating both inside, outside and on the patio area. Top quality catering is provided here during events, in the form of full meals, buffets or snacks.

Secretary

A separate secretaries building is central to the rings, fully equipped with phone lines and wi-fi.

Judges Boxes

Both the all-weather surface and grass arena have purpose built judges boxes built above the rings to give a 180 degree view of the rings. These are finished to a high standard and fully equipped with phone lines, wi-fi, PA systems and their own timings systems and spectator clocks. The showground’s electricity is powered by solar and a newly installed hydro scheme.

Stabling

Thirty 12 x 12 permanent stables are onsite with lights both inside and out. Another 24 Le Cheveux temporary stables are available. These are on grass, with space to park your lorry close by. There is hand standing parking for 40 + lorries as well as grass parking, and 16 electric hook ups available. Plenty of space for caravans and tents.

Toilets and Showers

The toilets and showers are of a wet room design; modern, full underfloor heating and cleaned on a daily basis during events. A washing-up sink, washing machine and tumble dryer are incorporated into this unit.

Local services

There is a garage, shop and off-licence opposite the show ground entrance and the village pub, The Ship Inn, is walking distance serving award winning food and they also provide Bed & Breakfast.

Other activities

For the non - horsey members of your party we have half a mile of course fishing on site and a choice of two sites with Carp lakes within two miles. One mile away is an indoor play area for the under 5s.

About Us

Dorset Showground is situated 7 miles from the A303 on the Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset border. We are a family run show centre and our aim is to run friendly well run events with top class facilities. The Showground is powered by geothermal, solar and hydro power.

We have a fantastic team of people to help at our events who all have the same ethos, to provide a friendly, enjoyable atmosphere.

Shows have been run on our site by Admiral Bellamy and the Dorset Area branch of the BSJA since the 1980s. The Showground is now run by Julian, Shirley & Zara Trim. Julian has been a British Show Jumping member for many years and spent time as a Director of British Show Jumping. He has trained pony club teams who have competed at HOYS and been Chairman of the Mounted Games Association of Great Britain. Shirley is a British Showjumping judge, Treasurer for Dorset Area BS, the SJ representative for Dorset County Show and works in the Horse Office for several large county shows. Zara has a MSc in equine science, several horses who jump BS and a full time job (not horsey!)

Contact Us

Dorset Showground
Church Farm
West Stour
Gillingham, Dorset
SP8 5RL
Email: shirley@dorsetshowground.co.uk
Telephone: 01747 838888. During shows it is better to contact us on 01747 838800.

Online Entries and Payments

Our online entries are provided through Equine Affairs. There is a £1.50 admin fee for each transaction made through Equine Affairs.

WorldPay

Our Refund Policy is based on British Showjumping Rule 79.5 i.e. Where the cancellation of an entry is notified to us by 12 noon on the second day before the Show (i.e. by noon on Thursday for a show starting on Saturday), then 50% of the entry fee will be refunded. If a show is cancelled, then your entry fee will be refunded in full. All refunds are made to the card account used to pay for that entry. We are happy to accept substitutions of horse or rider, and changes of class, at the Show Office.

Finding Us

You can enter a postcode to see the distance and route

Privacy Policy

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email.

At we consider the privacy of our visitors to be extremely important. This privacy policy document describes in detail the types of personal information is collected and recorded by us and how we use it.

Information Sources Entry lists are not published. Results are available during and after the show. This website does not hold the contact details or other personal data about competitors - only their names and results. If you think that your results are incorrect please contact the show (usually via their secretary).

Log Files
Like many other Web sites, we make use of log files. These files merely log visitors to the site - usually a standard procedure for hosting companies and a part of hosting services's analytics. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. This information is used to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.

Cookies and Web Beacons
We use cookies to store information about visitors' preferences, to record user-specific information on which pages the site visitor views, and to personalise or customise our web page content based upon visitors' browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.

Children's Information
We believe it is important to provide added protection for children online. We encourage parents and guardians to spend time online with their children to observe, participate in and/or monitor and guide their online activity. The only information at we publish about children is their results at our shows - the name of the child and their pony may be published in the results. We will not publish their address, age or other information. Information about their entries is passed direct from Equine Affairs to the Show Secretary and is not stored on this website. If a parent or guardian believes that we have on this website any personally-identifiable information or images of a child that they feel is inappropriate, please contact us immediately (using the contact details above) and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

Online Privacy Policy Only
This privacy policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website and regarding information shared and/or collected there. This policy does not apply to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.

Consent
By using our website, you hereby consent to our privacy policy and agree to its terms.


Update
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 6th January, 2017. Privacy Policy Online Approved Site
Should we update, amend or make any changes to our privacy policy, those changes will be posted here.

Credits

This website was created for us by Miranda Collett