With pace, style and irresistible elegance

Some autumns ago, Iwas looking for golden eagles in the mountains of northern Greece, close to the Bulgarian border, when I came across a local kynigós (hunter), accompanied by two handsome English setters. I admired his dogs and, with the help of my Greek-speaking companion, enjoyed an interesting conversation. I told him how rare English setters are in England, a fact that clearly bemused him. He replied that they were one of the most popular hunting dogs in Greece. He knew a little about shooting in the UK, as he mentioned that he didn’t think there could be much fun in shooting 200 pheasants in a day. Good sport, he assured me, was about hunting with your dog, and the bag was immaterial.

As a hunter rather than a shooter, I felt a natural empathy with my new Greek friend. Driven shooting has become so fashionable in Britain that many people have forgotten the simple satisfaction of pottering out, by yourself or with a couple of friends, with a dog