I was heading towards Devon, following the main arteries, before peeling off northwards and it wasn’t long before the capillaries got thinner and more sinuous and were lined by ancient raised earth banks and beech trees. Old country. These beech hedges will always be a feature of Devon I recall with great fondness and some frustration. They hide a kaleidoscope of landscapes, valleys and plunging hillsides, but they also make life hard for the lost motorist, blocking vision of any landmarks. Luckily, Kentisbury Grange, our meeting point, was quite easy to find.
The author Negley Farson once wrote in his renowned work that, where the West Country is concerned: “There is not a day in the year when you may not kill something.” It is a sportsman’s paradise offering fur, feather and fin. But in this case it was clay pigeons. Hidden away in sweeping valleys is the Benton shoot run by the father and son team of John and George Balman, long-standing farmers. Their story is an example of adapting to changing times and
