or an Irish girl, a lawn meet can mean anything from gathering on the well-manicured grass of a large crumbling pile to assembling on the artificial turf adjacent to a bungalow. But Aske Hall firmly falls into the former category, albeit fortunately with no crumbling thanks to its owners, the Dundas family, Marquesses of Zetland since 1763. The origins of the present-day Zetland Hunt owe their dues, in fact, to the Earl of Darlington (later Duke of Cleveland), who lived at the magnificent Raby Castle and who founded the Raby Hunt in 1787. The Raby’s turf stretched across much of Yorkshire and Durham, evolving into present-day hunt countries including the Braes of Derwent, Bedale, Badsworth and Bramham Moor, York and Ainsty South, West of Yore and the Zetland. The Raby operated five days a week, at least 90 days a year. The latter’s modern iteration is down to the Marquess of Zetland acquiring Darlington’s fine hounds in 1879 and moving them closer to home: Aske Hall. The new moniker arrived a little later in homage to Lord Zetland’s
