‘A very positive vibe’
★★★
catherine.austen@futurenet.com
STRADDLING the border between County Durham and Northumberland, this diverse hunting country slips unnoticed beneath the radar. The Zetland to the south and the Tynedale to the north have always taken the limelight as their more fashionable neighbours.
The Braes country was hunted by a number of other hunts from the mid-18th century. The Prudhoe and Derwent were one of these, as were The Castleside, whose huntsman Joseph Kirk is generally supposed to be the original upon whom RS Surtees’ fictional huntsman James Pigg was based.
This is the mother country of that famous hunting author Robert Smith Surtees, who lived at Hamsterley Hall, only a few miles from Castleside. His fictional village of Handley Cross is supposed to be based upon Shotley Bridge, the village where the Braes used to be kennelled.
The Braes of Derwent were officially founded in 1854 by the Cowen family, ancestors of Joe and Philip Cowen
