BROWNINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Christmas may be over but people are still looking for some holiday cheer with a sleigh ride.
“This is sort of a tradition because we used to do it when our kids where the same age as these guys, our grand kids,” Deb Latta of Newport Center said.
Families are traveling to the Northeast Kingdom to hitch a ride on a sleigh, and sing some Christmas carols.
Deb and Tom Latta have been taking their kids on sleigh rides every year during the Christmas season for decades.
Now that their grandkids are here, they enjoy seeing the tradition live on, and they say there is no better place to go than The Kingdom’s Horse Drawn Wagon and Sleigh Rides.
“Just to be outside, and be in the woods and look for Santa,” Deb said. “It is the magic of Christmas,” Tom said. “It’s a family thing, it is something we can all do together. You know, and that’s what we love doing,” Deb said.
Coachman Jeff Simpson has owned horses his entire life.
For the past ten years, he has rented some farmland in Brownington, seeing hundreds of people each winter giving sleigh rides on the trails.
He does rides ranging from 30 minutes to 45, and his season started a little later this year, with the lack of snow.
“Well we have had just enough to stay going. You know, we lost it right. Right after Thanksgiving, yeah it has come back. So I have been running every day. I like driving my horses, I like company, I like people. I like to see the kids that never get to see the animals,” Simpson said.
Simpson has four different Clydesdales that take turns driving people through the wintery corn fields.
And those who have never tried this activity before say they will definitely be back again next year.
“Coming from Boston it was very peaceful out here. Nice and quiet. Jeff was great, it was a great ride. It was the perfect day, we had just enough sun to make it nice and warm and cozy,” Rebecca Grady and Tom Grady of Massachusetts said.
Sleigh rides will end when the snow melts away, and carriage rides will start back up again in the spring