OLD SURREY, BURSTOW AND WEST KENT
25 November
catherine.austen@futurenet.com
@cfaustenl23
Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent, Ardingly, West Sussex
THE South Eastern Prime Stock Show at Ardingly showground, sponsored by the Old Surrey, Burstow with West Kent Hunt (OSBWKH), sets the stage for a festive high-day. John Jorrocks, the Cockney grocer whose hounds hunted the Surrey hills in RS Surtees's sporting novels, would have felt quite at home, jostling with farmers eager to show their stock and catch up on seasonal gossip.
When hounds met at midday, they were greeted by hundreds of farmers. The mounted field of 70 barely fitted into the showground's outdoor arena and more resembled a meeting at the United Nations. Hunt collars of every hue signalled there were visitors from a dozen packs, with many serving and retired masters present. Looking round those on foot and mounted, it was like a potted Who's Who of hunting in the south-east over the past half-century.
Hounds left the meet with kennel-huntsman Tim Staines to cheers and hacked through
