Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i The Field

PUNDITS of pop would be pushed to name 1991 as a vintage year. Yes, there was a scoop of Vanilla Ice but also vast tubs of Cher, Right Said Fred and 2 In a Room with Wiggle It, which we should have forgotten but cannot erase from hunt-disco memories. At the beginning of that year, I was working as Editor of Shooting Times, a role I’d filled for five years, having joined the paper in 1982. Then came a lunch invitation from Sir David English, the editorial genius of Associated Newspapers, then owner of The Field. He invited me to apply for the editorship and this issue marks my 25 years in the job. One of my first decisions was to stick to the newspaper tradition of informed comment pieces…

CHALKSTREAM SALMON The Test and Itchen salmon runs in 2015 were the best since records began in 1990. CORNISH GARDENS Spring arrived earlier than ever in the county with the flowering of the first magnolias in six of its great gardens on 10 February. GRAND NATIONAL ON TV The 2016 Grand National on 9 April is starting at 5.15pm for the first time to maximise the audience for broadcasters. FIREARMS LAW BASC says the new Policing and Crime Bill is “an opportunity to clarify areas of the law which would benefit those who shoot”. RED SQUIRRELS A survey by the National Trust for Scotland shows red squirrels are returning to properties in Perthshire and Fife.…

ANOTHER COUNTRY “Well, it makes a change from discussing schools and house prices.” RETIREMENT HOMES Working dogs give so much in their prime (Sporting Dog, January issue) and on retirement they make wonderful, civilised companions. We have “retired” two kennel dogs from a renowned Exmoor shoot and they could not have been better family members. There is a real need for the right kind of retirement homes for gamekeepers’ dogs; they deserve a rest – but an interesting one. They finish their working days as highly trained, responsive, fit older dogs and they deserve to find a home where they are given the exercise, structure and love that respects their character. Our two have perfect manners and adapted to house life straightaway. Good working dogs are so tuned into humans…

WITH only days to go until the arrival of baby number two, my life was filled with frenetic activity. I had hazy memories of being permanently attached to the sofa when Felix was tiny, so I thought I’d better get as much as possible done in advance. With four days to go, I went to London to have lunch. Darwin, my very glamorous, distinctly non-horsy, non-country, fashionista sister and I had lunch at the trendy Pizza East. Our waiter looked like Clark Kent, complete with the slightly hesitant manner of Superman’s alter ego. I asked about one of the puddings. “I’m not really the right person to ask,” he replied. Given that he was a waiter, I expressed mildly irritated surprise. “Well, I haven’t been working here long,” he explained.…

The Field cannot accept legal responsibility for answers given in these columns. THE ROOKIE’S NEW SHOES Q My son is a relative newcomer to shooting at 19 and has been invited to become a full gun on our “Dad’s Army” shoot in Shropshire. They haven’t taken a young gun on for many years but my son has taken to it like a natural and can’t wait for the season to start. He has got all the kit but the one item he is struggling with is footwear for the get together at the pub at the end of the day. He feels brogues are more suited to the guys he shoots with. He is fairly fashion conscious and wishes to keep that in mind. Any suggestions? DD, by email A…

2014 LES RAFELIERES SAUVIGNON BLANC (£8; Private Cellar) A tremendous Sancerrea-like but half the price. 2014 “CLOS LAGORU” MONASTRELL (£10; Lea & Sandeman) A fabulous, intense, plummy, cherry-ripe red from Spain. 2014 MARTIN KOHL GRUNER VELTLINER WEINVIERTEL CLASSIC (£10; Real Wine Co) This food-friendly Austrian white is a beauty. 2012 CH CARBONNEAU CUVEE SEQUOIA SAINTE FOY-BORDEAUX (£10; Woburn Wine Co) Scrumptious, oak-aged, seductive claret. 2014 TANNERS WHITE BURGUNDY (£11; Tanners) Seriously grown up for the price with creamy, toasty ripe fruit. CORNEY & BARROW SPARKLING BLANC DE BLANCS NV (£13; Corney & Barrow) Exemplary champagne-method French fizz.…

THE ALLOTMENT KITCHEN: FAVOURITE RECIPES AND IDEAS by Susan Williamson Illustrations by Carrie Hill SerenArts Publishing, £17 WHETHER you till an allotment or supervise a kitchen garden, both come with the same joys and the same dilemma: what to do when you have a glut on your hands. I once took to hiding courgettes that had morphed into marrows from the gardener as I couldn’t face yet another distended vegetable. The speed at which they transformed from delicate to daunting was extraordinary and I had distributed them to as many friends as would accept them. If only I’d had this book to keep the glut at bay. It’s a collection of recipes gathered over 25 years of growing and cooking, taking in heritage recipes, easy kitchen suppers and more elaborate…

The Craven meeting at Newmarket racecourse on 14 April will provide an emotional end to Richard Farquhar’s mammoth 3,000-mile walk round Britain’s racecourses. The fund manager has taken a year out of the City to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer and Racing Welfare. Farquhar had been to the Craven meeting for 26 years in a row with his father, Peter, but hasn’t been back since Peter died in 2012 from pancreatic cancer. “It is going to be an extraordinary day but rather poignant,” he admits. By April Farquhar will have walked an unbroken line around all 60 racecourses across Britain from Newton Abbot in the south to Perth in the north, Yarmouth in the east to Ffos-Las in the west. The routes planned to coincide with a race meeting were…

THE GREAT SIR PETER A celebration of the life of legendary racing commentator Sir Peter O’Sullevan at the Osborne Studio Gallery, 2 Motcomb Street, London SW1, runs until 1 April. “Racing art was his great love but, beyond that, he collected works from his travels, particularly from North Africa,” said Osborne gallery director Geoffrey Hughes. Also on show are Sir Peter’s commentary charts, betting vouchers and other material from the 51 scrapbooks archived by racing journalist Sean Magee. Some items will be sold to raise funds for the Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust. The remainder will be stored in the Cox Library. KEEPERS GATHERING The 40th BASC Gamekeepers’ Fair takes place at Catton Park, Derbyshire on 11-12 April. “We are trying to get as many gamekeepers as we can to celebrate…

FIELD COMPACT HUNTER Lightweight and foldable. Price £32 Tel 0330 333 4290 www.hunterboots.com BURGUNDY AUTOMATIC ASPINAL OF LONDON Also available in navy or black. Price £175 Tel 0845 052 6900 www.aspinaloflondon.com MORRIS & CO FULTON Shelter from showers beneath birds and pomegranates. Price £27 Tel 020 8963 3010 www.fultonumbrellas.com SEAT STICK TARTAN WESTLEY RICHARDS Perfect for a point-to-point shower. Also provides a perch. Price £280 Tel 0121 333 1900 www.westleyrichards.com UMBRELLA CHAIR WILLIAM & SON Elegant and smart with seat attached. Price £250 Tel 020 7493 8385 www.williamandson.co.uk BARK ASH JAMES SMITH & SONS Single-stick with bark on handle, in black or holly green. Price £245 Tel 020 7836 4731 www.james-smith.co.uk…

ALL sporting eyes turn towards Aintree this month as the oldest and most challenging steeplechase in the world is run over nearly four and a half miles. Every jump-racing nation has devised its own version. Here, is a rundown of the 10 biggest and best jump races in the world. Under starters orders… GRAND NATIONAL (1839) The Grand National is the world’s greatest steeplechase; to the horseman it is still the most challenging, to the spectator it remains the most exciting, colourful and dramatic of sporting events and since its inception every jump racing nation has followed suit. The irony is the National itself was a copy, of the four-mile Great St Albans Steeplechase. When it was first run in 1839 it was merely a sideshow devised by William Lynn,…

WILLIAM Shakespeare married at 18 in Stratford-upon-Avon; children followed within two years. A story that appeared in two early 18th-century accounts of his life and has been discounted by scholars, has it that at 20 he needed to disappear in a hurry after being caught poaching deer on Sir Thomas Lucy’s Charle cote estate about four miles from Stratford, an offence that could carry the death penalty. At 28, he resurfaced in London. Academics ponder his “missing” years. Many knowledgeable seafaring references suggest life aboard ship, for example, but sailor, poet, dramatist, classicist, historian, romantic, royalist, subversive, plagiarist, purveyor of myths, acute observer of the human condition – you find in his work whichever Shakespeare you seek. But despite the huge span of time and location of his plays, there…

NEVER had I imagined I would marry a PH from Zimbabwe and swap my apartment in Rustenburg, South Africa for a tent in the Selous Game Reserve for four to five months a year. I met Deon van der Westhuizen when I was 21 and always stayed in South Africa during his hunting season in Tanzania. After we got married in February 2015, we decided we would go to Tanzania, where I would manage the camps owned by one of his friends and he would continue hunting. After a while I found myself with too much time on my hands. Deon had a small rod and I started off not really knowing how to use it with only a lure and no previous fishing experience. I began in one of…

IT’S not often I wake up spouting Keats but as Storm Ursula lashed at my Cumbrian windows, the words “Was it a vision or a waking dream?” washed over my conscience. I tried desperately to recall the previous week, when I had been frolicking with The Media Queen on the white sands of Harbour Island. Quite why the Met Office thought it wise to name these tempests alphabetically, I cannot fathom. Twenty-six letters seem wholly inadequate. In Cumbria, we can use them up in a month. Far better use Chinese characters. Why not storm ›››› ? Far more entertaining and probably translates to “rabid dog that will piss until death”. I am conscious I have spent a goodly proportion of my past few articles on the topic of rain, especially…

HEATHER AUCTION Included in the sporting opportunities among the 80-100 lots in the 2016 Heather Trust auction is a Macnab at the Finzean estate on Deeside. Bidding opens on 22 April, closing at 7pm on 8 May. Visit www.heathertrust.co.uk to bid. DARTMOOR DERBY Liberty Trails is running the first Dartmoor Derby this September. Prices start at £1,250 for a three- day ride with accommodation in African-style camps and hotels. Visit www.dartmoorderby.com for details. CAPABILITY BROWN The National Trust is planting 10,000 trees to mark the tercentenary of Capability Brown’s birth. More than 500 will be planted at Croome in Worcestershire (above), the landscape designer’s first commission. To contact the Opening Shots News Desk send an email to caroline.bankes@timeinc.com…

Loyton Lodge, a Devon shooting estate voted one of Britain’s best party houses, a Rutland-based pub that serves pheasant and squirrel linguine and a Hampshire butcher are among the finalists in the 11th annual Countryside Alliance Awards. The winners in each of the four categories of the “Rural Oscars” will be announced in London on 27 April. In the local food category the 10 finalists include Padstow Farm Shop in Cornwall, Battlefield 1403 Farm Shop in Shropshire, Ben’s Restaurant in Suffolk, Langthornes Buffalo Produce in North Yorkshire and The Kings Arms at Wing in Rutland, which has its own smokehouse and serves only what can be made on site. There are 11 finalists from across the country vying for the village shop/post office title. One of the contenders is Barkers…

APRIL 3 PORTMAN HUNT POINT-TO-POINT Badbury Rings, Dorset, tel 07967589543. 522 ALISTAIR LITTLE Osborne Studio Gallery, Motcomb Street, London SW1; www.osg.uk.com. 7&14 SPRING WALK WITH THE GARDENERS Hardwick Hall, nr Chesterfield, Derbyshire, tel 01246 850430. 810 GREAT BRITISH FOOD FESTIVAL Stonyhurst College, Hurst Green, Lancashire; www.greatbritishfoodfestival.com. 9 BEDALE HUNT POINT-TO-POINT, Hornby Castle, Hornby, N Yorks; www.bedalepointtopoint.co.uk. 10 MORPETH HUNT POINT-TO-POINT, Tranwell, Morpeth, Northumberland, tel 07740794465. 13 GAVIN GARDINER’S AUCTION OF MODERN & VINTAGE SPORTING GUNS Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, London W1, 250 lots; www.gavingardiner.com. 1417 HARROGATE ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR Harrogate International Centre, N Yorks; www.harrogateantiquefair.com. 15 GWCT CLAY SHOOT West Midlands Shooting Ground, Hodnet, Shrops, email John Whitfield, john@birchencliffe.co.uk. 1517 RHS FLOWER SHOW Bute Park, Cardiff; www.rhs.org.uk. 17 WEST NORFOLK HUNT POINT-TO-POINT Fakenham racecourse, Norfolk, tel 07775517515. 2124…

THERE was no danger the end of the sporting season would feel drear among the heady group who gathered to celebrate 2016’s successful Macnab Challengers. The Macnabbers numbered 17 this year, with the ever-resourceful Gannochy estate fielding a baker’s dozen and Perthshire supplying the rest. A smattering of jolly Americans and a Canadian were in the mix, with all the Macnabbers plumping for the classic: salmon, stag and a brace of grouse between dawn and dusk. The dinner, hosted at The Savile Club in Mayfair, began with a Pol Roger Champagne reception before ebullient Macnabbers and guests swapped stories over salmon terrine, roast venison and cranachan. Glenfarclas Whisky and Hine Cognac were on hand to keep the party buoyant during the speeches. Editor Jonathan Young welcomed the sporting crowd and…

WE squinted hard and, yes, there was a wisp of hair against the ivy in the crook of the ash. Tim crept round the tree, stealthy as a bushman, to provide enfilading fire and raised his barrels with the whisper, “One, two, three – fire!” An eruption of green and grey materialised into a squirrel cascading towards a Jack Russell bent on bloody revenge; the last tree rat had not been shot mortally before it hit the ground and there had been clashing of teeth, a bitten lip, furious indignity. This one, however, had received a couple of ounces of No 6s and the terrier’s coup de grace was more a gnashy tir de joie. Reloading quickly, I scanned a sky as blue as a blackbird’s egg, hoping the fusillade…

IN the good old day when foxes ran straight and men still rode to hounds in scarlet, visiting another hunt country rarely involved bringing your own pack of hounds, although there were some notable exceptions. In 1886 the Warwickshire pack travelled by train to hunt the Cottesmore country and were safely back in kennels by midnight having enjoyed a superb day’s sport. History does not relate how many Warwickshire subscribers were among the field of 450 riders, or how they reached Leicestershire, but hunt visits were to remain rare until the advent of affordable and independent transport. Things had moved on a bit by the time of the late Captain Ronnie Wallace, who from the Fifties until his retirement as Heythrop MFH in 1977, moved his hounds down to Exmoor…

METAMORPHOSIS INSECTORUM SURINAMENSIUM by Maria Sibylla Merian Published 1705 MARIA Sibylla Merian was a key figure in early entomology and a highly skilled artist. She was one of the first scientists to depict the life cycles of insects and the plants on which they feed. Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium included many plants and insects that were new or little known to European scientists, including this plate of the banana plant, Musa. Her notes for the plate include descriptions of the taste and texture of bananas. Edited extract from Rare Treasures from the Library of the Natural History Museum, published by Natural History Museum, £30.…

SO, when was the last time you played billiards in the wine section of your local supermarket? Or sat by a tinkling fountain outside said supermarket, enjoying a large glass of chilled rosé and a picnic? Nope, thought not; nor me. But head to the wine merchants Yapp Bros of Mere, Wiltshire, and you can do exactly that. It’s not that the patron, Jason Yapp, is eccentric, it’s just that he’s crammed to bursting with exuberant bonhomie and lives only to see his customers happy. Yapp Bros made its name championing the wines of the Loire, the Rhône and quirky, less well-known corners of France and there’s nothing Jason likes more than to give well-honed advice on what to drink while plying his punters with decent-sized samples of his latest…

SAKO remains one of the most popular brands among UK stalkers and this is mainly attributable to its renowned build and barrel quality. Durability, reliability and value for money are synonymous with Sako and for those demanding performance with functionality there is, frankly, little reason to look further afield. The Sako Carbonlight brings something extremely alluring to the firm’s much-admired range. While based on the highly respected 85 action and sharing all other features of the popular Finnlight, this rifle is stocked with carbon fibre. The effect is to shave half a kilogram (just over 1lb) off the weight of a normal composite stock and bring the whole rifle down to just 2.4kg (5.29lb), making it the lightest that Sako has ever manufactured. The carbon fibre stock, which uses the…