By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

NORWAY – As horse people, they know what other horse people are like. And most don’t like to leave their animals for too long when they go away.

So Orrin Desjardins and Elaine Binette have asked the Planning Board for permission to build a 10-site campground on their Watson Road property that can accommodate both species.

“This way people can bring their horse with them,” Binette said, looking out over the pine grove where the two-acre campground is planned. “They can park their camper here and go on their merry way, and do what they want to do” on horseback – there are trails nearby – or off horseback, knowing their horses are secure back at Calloways Horse Farm.

The campground will contain small sites for tents or recreational vehicles, with water and electricity hook-ups, and each will have its own horse paddock.

Campers would also have an option of renting a stall in the large barn.

Desjardins bought the farm last June. He used to be part owner of the Carousel Horse Farm in Casco, and while he wanted to do something similar there, neighbors protested, he said.

At his new 15-acre farm, which has been a deer farm and dairy farm in its past, the neighbors are far and few between. This part of Norway is redolent with rolling hills and sun-drenched meadow tops.

Watson Road runs between Route 118 and Norway Center Road.

Desjardins anticipates that following town approval, he will be ready to open the campground by next spring.

There are at least two other similar type operations in Maine, one in Andover and another in Acadia National Park.

The couple is also opening a new tack shop within the next week or so, and also want to offer a therapeutic riding program, build an indoor arena, and stage bi-annual livestock auctions.