Pokolbin and Lovedale in the beautiful Hunter Valley are known for award winning wines and food, but did you know you can spend a morning looking at wine country on horseback?

Hunter Valley Horse Riding and Adventures has been operating at Lovedale for more than 30 years.

They offer a whole list of adventures in the great outdoors from pony rides, to trail rides, half day rides, bush walking, camping and farm stays, guest house and villa stays, weddings and functions, they have a petting zoo, can facilitate children’s birthday parties and even wedding proposals – the manager Lee O’Malley tells me they have a 100% strike rate!

I made my way out to the beautiful property on Talga Road for an hour trail ride on a gorgeous sunny day.

My horse was named Matilda, a beautiful 20-year-old placid horse who was very quiet and lovely to ride.

Matt took me and two other ladies out on the trail ride on the Molly Morgan Range overlooking Hunter Valley Wine Country.

I had only ridden a horse once before with a friend on her property, so I was certainly not an expert by any means.

But Matt told me everything I needed to know – where to hold the reins, how to go left and right and how to stop and go. What more do you need!

We headed out one horse behind the other, and Matilda was certainly a girl after my own heart, she was busy eating grass, so we fell a little bit behind the other three from the start!

We caught up and it was just so peaceful. All you could hear was the nature around you as we made our way along the trail.

We stopped at a dam so the horses could have a drink – one of the ladies’ horses decided they wanted to go in the dam to drink, but thankfully she stayed on!

Then we continued our way past paddocks of horses and lots of kangaroos who were lazing around in the long grass, not concerned about us coming by at all.

The view over wine country was spectacular, nothing but trees and hills for miles and plenty of birdlife to keep an eye on as well as the kangaroos.

We did a big loop around the property and headed back to the stables.

It was so peaceful and relaxing – we couldn’t take our phones with us so there wasn’t even that distraction, you had no choice but to relax and soak up the nature around you.

Matilda got me back safe and sound and after a few pats to thank her for looking after me I headed off home.

As I mentioned, Hunter Valley Horse Riding does much more than trail rides.

Starting with the great outdoors you can spend some time in the petting zoo, take a donkey or a mule for a walk around the property, get on a tractor to go and feed the animals, go bush walking, mountain bike riding and bird watching, the team can accommodate birthday parties and during foaling season you can go and meet all the beautiful foals.

There are about 100 horses on the property, many of them thoroughbreds and all looked after lovingly by the staff.

There’s accommodation as well including the Hill Top Guest House which has six rooms and the Lovedale Villas that have a touch of Italy set against the beautiful Australian countryside.

For more information head to: https://www.huntervalleyhorses.com/