Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i The Field

NEW FLY FISHING FAIR The first London Fly Fishing Fair takes place at the Business Design Centre in Islington from 10-11 March. Launched by keen fishers John Kelley and his son, Fergus (below), there’ll be 70 exhibitors, casting demonstrations, fly tying and debates on fishing matters. A two-day ticket costs £15. Go to: www.thelondonflyfishingfair.co.uk RARE WHISTLER WORKS More than 70 rarely seen works by Rex Whistler are on show at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire, home of his final trompe-l’œil wall painting, until 23 April. Rex Whistler: More than Murals, features well-known works, sketchbooks, letters, original paintbox and photographs borrowed from Plas Newydd, the Whistler Archive and the Welsh Guards regimental headquarters. WILD TROUT TRUST AUCTION From trout fishing on prime chalkstreams to salmon fishing in Iceland, there are plenty of…

3-5 Wilton House Antiques Fair Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Tel 01722 746728; www.wiltonhouse.com 7-4 June Exhibition: Madonnas and Miracles: The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Tel 01223 332900; www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk  9-12 Crufts NEC Birmingham (gundog classes on 11th). www.crufts.org.uk 11 South Wold Hunt Point-to-Point Revesby Park, Lincolnshire (first race noon) Tel 07795 230241; www.southwoldhunt.co.uk 12 Hampshire Hunt Point-to-Point Hackwood Park, Basingstoke (first race 1.30pm). Tel 07977 920705. www.pointtopoint.co.uk 12 Suffolk Point-to-Point Ampton, Bury St Edmunds (first race noon). Tel 07899 846010; pointingea.com 14-17 Cheltenham Festival Prestbury, Gloucestershire. www.thefestival.co.uk 15-21 BADA 2017 More than 90 dealers. Duke of York Square, London SW3. Tel: 020 7589 6108; www.badafair.com 16 Holts Fine Modern and Antique Guns Sale Preview on 14th and 15th. Princess Louise House, Hammersmith Road, London W6.…

“An incredible £180,000 was raised and the funds will enable the GWCT to continue its vital scientific research’’ A WONDERFULLY jolly crowd headed to The Dorchester in Park Lane, London, for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s annual Macnab Ball on 24 November. This year’s event was generously sponsored by Snow + Rock, Cotswold Outdoor and Hunter Boots. The evening kicked off in style with the 280 guests tucking into delicious canapés at the Laurent Perrier Champagne reception before listening to the charming Baron Frederic Hufkens, London ball chairman, as he spoke about the crucial work of the GWCT; his talk was followed by a short film by Snow + Rock. A well-provisioned (and appropriate) dinner of succulent venison followed, during which diners were diverted by magician Kieron The Mighty’s…

TALK of new garden towns and villages to deliver government housing targets has predictably set the cat among the pigeons – or, rather, sent the NIMBYs to their sheds to dust off their “No new homes anywhere near me” placards. There was the predictable chorus of “death knell for rural character of our village” – it is okay if it is somebody else’s village. The trouble is rural villages are often the constituencies of Conservative MPs. So every time prime minister Theresa May puts on her hard hat and threatens to bulldoze anyone opposed to plans to build a million new homes in the lifetime of this parliament, she quickly has to switch to a tin hat as flak flies from her backbenchers. You always know when there is a…

CRAIGIEBANK STEADING LARGIE, INSCH, ABERDEENSHIRE A former steading with planning consent for conversion into three houses. The buildings at Craigiebank are based around a traditional stone-walled, slate-roof cattle court, with a timber-frame barn and modern store; the site runs down to a burn. The agent believes the current planning permission could be revised to convert to a single larger house. In addition to the steading there is a block of farmland of 120 acres (guide price £300,000) about half a mile away available at Skirts of Foudland from the same seller. This could allow the purchaser to set up a small farm. Agent: Bell Ingram Tel: 01224 621300 Guide price: £80,000…

“My brother’s children looked like my dad when they were born, wrinkly little Welshmen, which was a worry as they were both girls” HOORAY, it’s spring time. No, it is. Really. You may still be wearing 19 layers of thermals while being battered by gale-force winds but, hey, we live in Britain, so we need to use our imaginations a bit here. Yes, the spring is springing, the grass is rizzing and whether it’s storm Derek, Eric or Frederick battering the proverbial birdies, let’s try to be a bit cheerful for a minute. And what could be more cheerful than the sight of a daffodil-dotted field full of gambling cottonwool balls? Or, for that matter, any baby animal at all? Boistrous kittens and puppies, foals on stilts, fluff-ball chicks and,…

TERRIER Me: adventurous, bold, a bit of a fighter. You: confident, experienced, looking to enjoy days out travelling and working. SPANIEL Me: energetic, enthusiastic, full of fun. You: looking for an interesting long-term relationship, possibly leading to competitions; ready to commit to training. LABRADOR Me: affectionate, family lover, cuddly. You: perhaps coming out of a previous difficult relationship, looking for someone loyal and reliable to restore your trust. TOYDOG Me: fashion conscious, can be a bit high-maintenance. You: town dweller, with a busy life but open to a relationship. HOUND Me: fit, active, sporty rather than intellectual. You: keen walker or runner with plenty of time and space but not the romantic type. MONGREL Me: interesting, sometimes challenging, ready…

“KEEP your rod tip up and walk slowly backwards,” I instructed. It was the end of a long fight with a very big salmon, well over 30lb and possibly 40lb. I was on one of the best beats of Tweed in October with an extremely lucky young rod who had only caught one fish previously. He had played the monster to exhaustion and now, as he walked backwards, it wallowed towards my waiting net. Suddenly, as salmon often do, it righted itself and lunged towards the current. I didn’t hear the reel scream as it was one of those expensive, ultra-light, silent ones. All I could see was the line and then the rod tip came into view until it was almost parallel with the ground. There was a crack…

“‘When I first saw this bronze, it was an inspiration. I thought, well, I’m never going to have a Munnings so I’d better make one’’’ LEWIS ON SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS’S BROWN JACK SCULPTURE ONCE in a while a racehorse comes along that inspires far beyond the fleeting moment of victory on the course. Denman was such a horse. As a chaser he won at the top level, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and two Hennessy Gold Cups at Newbury. But it was his epic rivalry with Kauto Star that captured the public’s imagination. Both trained by Paul Nicholls, Kauto Star was the class act with Denman, “The Tank”, in the role of the people’s battler. Football scarves were knitted in their racing colours so fans could declare their allegiance. Now…

MOST VIEWED Field on tour For the true blue foxhunter, Ireland is the definitive destination. However, for many, the remote countryside, fearsome obstacles and proper hunting remain an aspiration. Not so for Will Cursham, who wrote about touring with three packs in the December issue. We love this picture sent in to us of The Braes of Derwent visiting the Donegal Harriers at the Duke of Abercorn’s estate. Donal Day (pictured) has hunted the same horse for 25 years. INSTAGRAM Here’s to next time Spring has, inevitably, sprung. It’s time to hang up the cartridge belt and make contact with non-shooting friends again. We love this picture from one Instagram Fielder who had her first taste of game-shooting this season. “Thoroughly enjoyed my first-ever game shoot experience at the magnificent…

FRIENDS , family and columnists congregated in the William Evans gunroom on St James when The Field, Robin Hurt Safaris and William Evans hosted an entertaining evening for adventure-minded types in December. in true Field spirit, dogs were on the guest list, with one cocker retaining her booty – a William Evans teddy bear – after dutifully retrieving it multiple times. Many guests also had an eye for the selection, swapping kit recommendations upstairs and talking guns below street level. in the gunroom, safari legend Robin Hurt offered advice and discussed his numerous adventures, while his son, Derek, treated the enthusiastic queue to extraordinary images of gorilla tracking in Rwanda. But one gaggle of guests remained upstairs, distracted by a particularly risqué moment caught on a mobile phone – it’ll…

WOOLBROOK RESERVOIR BALFOURS, SIDMOUTH, DEVON This fascinating property in the Regency coastal town of Sidmouth is a former reservoir and was converted into light, airy residential accommodation eight years ago. All the rooms look over a central atrium, which provides a sheltered seating area. Agent: Bradleys Tel: 01395 578444 Guide price: £895,000 LOWER HOUSE FARM CUTCOMBE, MINEHEAD, SOMERSET As a whole this Exmoor farm is 143 acres, with potential for equestrian facilities, given the quality of the outriding. Lot One is a six-bedroom farmhouse and a range of modern and traditional farm buildings, together with 86 acres, including productive pasture land. Agents: Savills and Exmoor Farmers Tel: 01392 455755 and 01643 841841 Guide price: £925,000 for Lot One LOWER COMBE COTTAGE TEIGNMOUTH, DEVON A two-bedroom, Grade II-listed thatched cottage in…

OLDEST: Duke of Devonshire’s straw The only set of the Jockey Club’s first official registration of silks in 1762 to have been in continual use since then. COOLEST: the late Mrs Miles Valentine’s pink with red hearts Was there ever a more apt set of silks? The housewives’ favourite when worn, as they regularly were, by John Francome. Carried to victory for the American owner by Fred Winter’s Plundering in the 1986 Whitbread Gold Cup. They are no longer registered. HISTORIC: Lord Derby’s black with a white cap The 12th Earl, who lived at the Oaks in Epsom and had the Derby named after him, won the eighth running of the race in 1787 with Sir Peter Teazle in these colours. When Sandovino won the Derby in 1924, jockey Tommy…

AUCTIONEERS up and down the country are stirring from their winter hibernation and working out how best to entice us to part with more cash than we had ever intended for their various offerings. Forget last year’s “Furniture and general effects sales” – that is, yet more dull old “brown” furniture and bits and bobs, even if they are beautifully made and genuinely antique – and welcome to enthralling sounding “Library sales”. Same old stuff, just differently marketed and repackaged to appeal to a new generation of buyers. Much as a brilliant title and cover will entice readers to pick up a magazine, the most successful auctioneers are forever experimenting with how to become better purveyors of our acquisitive dreams. “It’s only a figure, Sir,” was my personal favourite from…

DO you sometimes have a glass of your favourite wine and find that it doesn’t quite measure up? That it’s not quite as good as you remember it to be? That it’s, erm, a bit flat, one-dimensional, a bit, well, dull? Whenever my old friend Laura Taylor of Private Cellar and I find ourselves together at a wine tasting and this happens to us we have a standing joke. “It must be a root day or a leaf day,” we exclaim in unison, pretending to nod knowingly, tapping our noses with our forefingers. Our own noses, that is, not each other’s. There’s no doubt that every now and then I do have a glass of something that I know I like and to be good but which then proves a…

BERETTA: 500 YEARS OF THE WORLD’S FINEST SPORTING LIFE In more than 20 books, published over the past 25 years, there have been two constants in the work of Nicholas Foulkes: arduous research and a love of language. Here he bookends two large sections, The History of Beretta and The Sporting Life, around a well-conceived chapter on The SO Story. In the former, he weaves Beretta’s story into a larger historical narrative. In the latter, he links fieldsports worldwide with Beretta. The SO Story is about the rise of Beretta’s ubiquitous over-and-under. It is a story well told, much of it in the words of Beretta’s sales literature. My only grouse is it tends to sustain myths, such as the one about Giuliano Bossi inventing a superimposed gun in 1616.…

1 FLEECE SHOOTING JACKET PURDEY Heavyweight double layer fleece with Alcantara trim for easy movement. Keep swinging. • Price £345 • Tel 020 7499 1801 • www.purdey.com 2 CARDINGTON BAG TUSTINGS Cognac calf leather shoulder bag for the season’s racing essentials. A perfect punter’s companion. • Price £190 • Tel 020 7484 1000 • www.farlows.co.uk 3 ULTRAVID HD-PLUS SAFARI EDITION, LEICA Green trim and light leather case, limited to 100 pairs of each model: 8x32, 10x32, 8x42 and 10x42. • Price from £1,900 • Tel 020 7629 1351 • uk.leica-camera.com/Sport-Optics 4 MICROFIBRE DOGGY BAG CUCKOOLAND Super-absorbent zip-up bag for damp, dirty dogs. Keep one in the car. Other sizes available. • Price £79 (large) • Tel 01305 231231 • www.cuckooland.com 5 CORD TROUSERS SCHOFFEL Mulberry, green or blue cord with a touch of stretch that works in the paddock or at…

THREE OF THE BEST The January 2017 issue is yet another excellent evening read with a glass of malt following a day hunting longtails, but three articles in particular deserve a mention. David Tomlinson’s A day without dogs echoes many older guns’ remorse at the modern trend of high bag numbers and gangs of professional picking-up dog teams. As a younger man, a long walk with a respected four-legged friend, and the odd chance of a shot or two, was regarded as a day to remember. Sadly, monetary gain seems to rule shoot days today. Younger in the field by Eve Jones was a jewel. Her informative style coupled with oft tongue-in-cheek innuendos was a breath of fresh air. She would be a welcome guest at my shoot any day…

 HAD she been a Byzantine empress she would have whispered an order to the chief eunuch: “A warming broth of hemlock, perhaps, or a silken cord wrapped round that pretty little throat.” “If she does not perform in the field, Betsy will be an amusing vermin killer not a failed gundog” Brown Dog was seething, her position at court challenged by a nubile nothing, a plaything, a lute-player at best but undoubtedly attractive. The politics of power are never easy when you introduce a new puppy to the family, especially one as feisty as young Betsy. I’d met her mother, Elsie, at the Midland Game Fair, where Harry Parsons was exhibiting his pack of working Sealyhams, first brought into prominence by The Field and later appearing in the 2016 Country…

“This is the first piece of advice: no good puppy was ever bought cheaply” Buying a puppy ought to be the most straightforward of procedures, if your purchase is planned. But there is really no such thing as a planned puppy purchase. For a nano-second you stop saying “No!” loudly and firmly, and a puppy pops up from nowhere. There are the massive brown eyes gazing up at you, the cute little button nose and the pool of pee on the kitchen floor – all without your being conscious of having taken any specific action to arrive at this state of affairs. It’s as if puppies exist in another dimension, ready to be summoned into this world if you happen to look over the wrong shoulder or, indeed, be walking…

THE last privately funded military venture into the heart of Africa left England in January 1887 led by Henry Morton Stanley, the great explorer most famous for finding Livingstone in 1871. The expedition numbered more than 700 men, mostly porters, and its stated aim was to rescue Emin Pasha (real name Isaak Schnitzer), a quixotic German doctor and naturalist appointed by the Egyptian government as governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria, in central Africa and southern Sudan, to succeed Gordon, who had originally appointed him as his chief medical officer and emissary. The British public subsequently came to see him as another General Gordon, similarly threatened by the advancing Mahdists. A relief fund raised £21,500 (roughly £2 million today) to fund the expedition. Nine men from a list of…