The timeless plaything – the Rocking Horse

The Rocking Horse Shop in the quaint village of Fangfoss, overlooked by the Yorkshire Wolds, has become a centre of excellence.

It all began in 1976 when Anthony Dew started designing and making wooden rocking horses and even now, 40 years on, under the leadership of Becca and James is a family owned business.

“I made one,” says Anthony, “and everyone liked it. I thought maybe the craft was ripe for revival.” So Anthony and wife Pat and set out to become rocking-horse makers.

Their aim was to design and make everything they sold in their own workshops, always to the highest quality possible. They drew their own plans, prepared all the wooden parts, assembled and hand-carved the horses and made their own leather bridles and saddles as well as many of the specialised accessories needed, including real and synthetic hair manes and tails and many of the metal components.

That approach is still followed today and has seen the development of eighteen different rocking-horse designs, from simple little rockers for toddlers to magnificent fully carved steeds suitable for riders of any age, even adults. “We’d decided to specialise in rocking-horses,” says Anthony, “but within that narrow speciality we’d do everything. If it’s to do with rocking-horses, we do it.” It succeeded, and by the end of the 1990s they were employing fifteen people.

In the early 2000s The Rocking Horse Shop was commissioned by a London-based artist to make a 5-metre long rocking-horse, nick-named Big Bertie, to be followed by Bigger Bertie, 9-metres long, the largest hand-carved rocking-horse in the world, which really rocked!

Before retiring in 2015 Anthony drew designs for a safe and simple chair rocker for very small children. This rocker has five interchangeable heads: two horses, elephant, kangaroo and a remarkable dinosaur - ‘Pinocchio Rex’ - with opening mouth.

The future looks bright and assured for The Rocking Horse Shop, and sometime in the Autumn of 2022 it will serve its 50,000th customer. That’s an awfully big herd of rocking-horses, and a wonderful lot of happy riders!

Visitors are welcome to visit the showroom but the team of experts always recommend booking an appointment to make sure that the right person is available to help you. If you want to order a rocking horse for Christmas it is advised to order now.

The Rocking Horse Shop also offers a complete restoration service for battered old Rocking Horses - woodwork repairs to broken ears, legs, rockers etc, 'antique' paintwork and dappling in a variety of styles, fitting new saddlery, manes and tails.

And if woodworking is your interest the Rocking Horse Shop publishes a range of exclusive plans, complete with pictures and instructions, many of which are original Anthony Dew designs.

Discover

To discover more about the The Rocking Horse Shop you can visit 10.00am till 4.00pm Monday to Friday inclusive (closed Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays) or go to www.rockinghorse.co.uk