We are incredably proud of our owner and General Manager Julie Camm following her performance at the World Championships in Slovenia last month.

Local paper, The Gazette, ran the following story this week.

“Julie Camm has returned from the World Combined Pony Championships without the individual medal she desired but full of passion and enthusiasm for competing in Europe again.

Julie Camm, who owns Alveston House Hotel, was representing Great Britain as an individual in Lipica, with her 14 year  old Welsh Section D pony, Thorneyside Emporer, also known as Billy.

They came eighth in the dressage overall, but Julie was delighted to have been placed first by the German judge on the judging panel.

They had a safe marathon and were fifth fastest in the water obstacle before going on to achieve a clear round in the cones with just five time penalties.  This meant they were 16th overall – the best position achieved in the competition by any British single driver.

Team GB came fourth overall out of the six countries who fielded a full competitive team, with Germany taking first place, followed by the Netherlands, USA, Great Britain, Hungary and Austria.

Julie enjoyed the atmosphere and was inspired by the high standard of competition.

She said: ‘Billy was fantastic throughout and performed well, but we had had a difficult build-up to training for the championships with Billy having undergone surgery and I think that had an impact.

‘However, the speed of some of the competitors was amazing and it was fantastic to be among such a high standard.

It has inspired us to train even harder for competition again, once Billy has enjoyed some much needed rest.

‘Before we left for the competition I had thought this might be our last event of this kind, but instead it’s filled me with determination to be selected for the next World Championships in 2013.

‘It was such a superb competition and we were honoured to be part of it’

More exciting times  for Julie Camm - our owner and General Manager.

Not only has she been invited to Newbury Races to parade her pony Kasawell Black Jack in front of the capacity crowd but she will then be driving the starter to start the 2.15 and 2.45 race - and it’s live on Channel 4!

Make sure you are tuned in to channel 4 racing from Newbury on Saturday 26 March from 1.45 to see Julie and Black Jack in action.

The Championships are now over after a difficult cones course which adjusted all the placings.

Julie said ”The German Course Builder had built a very difficult cones course with a ‘box’.  It was also an extremely tight time.  We unfortunately had 2 cones down and dislodged the last element of the box which dropped us to 17th place individually”.

The final placings for the other British competitors were:

Singles: Sue Mart - 7th; Sue Denney-22nd

Pairs: Anna Grayston – 11th; James Broome – 22nd

Teams: Faith Szczuka – 21st

After 3 days of fierce Competition, we are pleased to report that Julie and team GBR are doing well at the World Combined Pony Driving Championships in Germany.

She came a respectable 16th in the first round of the competition with a tense Dressage stage.

Yesterday we were pleased to hear that Julie came 9th in the gruelling Marathon; bringing her to 12th overall in the Singles competition.

Today is the last stage, with the testing Obstacle Course.  Watch this space to find out where Julie finishes…

Good luck Julie!

We are thrilled to announce that our Owner and General Manager Julie Camm has yet again been selected to represent Great Britain in The World Combined Pony Championships taking place in Germany in August 2009.

Julies’ final selection event took place this weekend at Sandringham.   After 2 days of competition  Julie had to complete a punishing marathon round with her pony to ensure she had enough points to get through.   A double clear round and nerves of steel meant that she just pipped fellow competitor Sue Mart at the post and managed to secure her place in the championships.  We are all so pleased for Julie and for trainer, Robert Buck, and we look forward to reporting on their future success in the Worlds.

We will be posting further details of Julies success when she returns to the hotel so watch this space…

Congratulations from all of us at Alveston House…

Today we wish our owner and General Manager, Julie Camm the best of luck as she travels to Germany.  Julie is taking part in an International Carriage Driving event in Emsdetten in preparation for the 2009 World Championships in August.

Julie, who has been selected to represent Great Britain in 3 previous World Championships, will be taking her 2 ponies Kasawell Black Jack and Thorneyside Emperor.  The trip will begin with a gruelling  16 hour drive.  Once in Germany there will be time to become aquainted with the course and the rest of the competitors then into the competition on Thursday.

Read more about Julies’ Carriage Driving  in Passionate about Ponies – a story of determination..

Good Luck Julie – from all at the hotel.