About Us | Fell Pony Heritage Trust

Our Team and Mission

What we do

Support Fell Pony Hill Farmers in keeping Fell Pony herds on the fells of Cumbria

We are committed to supporting the value the Fell Pony has in being an important part of Cumbria's heritage and ensuring the hill farmers and breeders have a secure and long-term future. The number of herds is slowly reclining unfortunately, and we wish to help with preventing these numbers from falling further.

Fell Pony Visitor & Education Centre - In planning stages

Our vision is to establish a Fell Pony Heritage Centre in the Lake District to protect the Fell Pony breed characteristics and preserve the working practices for future generations, while also supporting the traditional stewards of the breed - the Cumbrian hill farmers. The centre's aim is to be a living museum and a visitor attraction. It will enable visitors to learn about Fell Pony history and to see them in their natural environment. It will enable them to observe daily demonstrations of working Fell ponies and to participate in other activities such as going out for a carriage ride or a walk with a pack pony on the historic Cumbrian packhorse and drover trails. It will also be a resource for current pony owners on hill farms and other hill farmers who wish to return Fell ponies to their fell grazing rights. We envisage that the centre will run special days for school children enabling them to experience how ponies would have been used on a traditional hill farm.

Promote the Fell Pony for Conservation Grazing

And finally, and very importantly, we aim to conduct research to quantify the positive impact of Fell Pony grazing on the upland ecosystem.

If you are interested in supporting us and or being a part of the team to share in our values then we would really welcome hearing from you. Please contact us for further information. Thank you!