December 2021

The Field

Champion of Britain's countryside heritage

The Field1 min read
The Field
Editor Alexandra Henton Editorial assistance Carla Passino and Madeleine Silver Group production editor Diane Cross Group art director Dean Usher Art editor Steve Mumby Picture editors Max Tremlett and Karen Whitehead Advertising Ad Director Toni Fal
The Field3 min read
Time To Celebrate Our Legacy
EVERYONE’S Christmas Day, just like a shoot day, poses the thorny question, should you stop for lunch or shoot through? The latter is our preference when it comes to the 25th. I’ve always been staggered by those whose organisation – and animal number
The Field6 min read
Field In Focus
With the shooting season now in full swing, Fielders are rediscovering favourite game recipes. A comfort recipe for venison cannelloni topped with crumbly cheese, a creamy partridge stroganoff served with pappardelle pasta and a warm pheasant salad w
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Briefing
British assured game is reaching more tables than ever before. Newly offered in several pubs, supermarkets and hotels across the country, it will also feature on the menus of the Combined Services Culinary Arts team, a group of Armed Forces chefs who
The Field4 min read
SPORTING WAGERS King George VI Chase
THE ‘King George’, as it is often referred to, serves as the festive feature of Kempton Park’s two-day Christmas meeting. Named in honour of the late King, the Grade 1, three-mile chase is largely recognised as the second most coveted prize on the Na
The Field1 min read
Kit To Covert
EMAIL SARAH.FITZPATRICK@FUTURENET.COM The Jameson is made in split-coupe wax suede on a flexible, lightweight sole for perambulations around town and country. ♦ Price £160 ♦ Tel 01572 772444 ♦ lechameau.com Suede shooting patches, recoil inserts and
The Field1 min readRegional & Ethnic
Festive Larder
EMAIL SARAH.FITZPATRICK@FUTURENET.COM After dinner, with the leftovers, in soup and sandwiches. Especially creamy. ♦ Price £65 ♦ Tel 01159 892350 ♦ cropwellbishopstilton.co.uk A collaboration with Mellerio jewellery house, inspired by the family’s is
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Letters
I was interested by Jonathan Irby’s article [To have and to hold – safely, October issue], particularly as I was brought up to close my gun in a way slightly different to what he calls ‘a right way’. I was taught to take the weight of the gun in the
The Field2 min read
All Very Wellness
IT seems I live just a few miles from the country’s top ‘wellness hotspot’. Brighton in East Sussex is where it’s at if you want health and well-being. The housing market loves a survey, whether it is based on hard data or soft sentiment. It used to
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Six Of The Best: Cumbria
This includes a traditional converted Lakeland barn with Local Occupancy Restriction and three refurbished cottages with no occupancy restrictions. Adjoining the properties, and available by separate negotiation, are around 80 acres of ringfenced lan
The Field1 min read
Country Estate Of The Month
Careston is an A-listed castle dating from the 13th century, which has been in the same family since 1872. The property is for sale as a whole or in up to eight lots. There are three estate cottages with the principal lot, along with 143 arable acres
The Field3 min read
Talking Turkey – Or Not
NDC As Christmas approaches and the hooks on the beam outside our door are filled with an endless procession of feathered game, it often strikes me that we’ve sold the festive turkey a little short. In its native land, the gobbler is the king of game
The Field2 min read
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Newton Mulgrave North Yorkshire
From the edge of Borrowby Moor the views over the North Yorkshire countryside, across wooded ghylls to the North Sea beyond, are spectacular. And on a crisp December morning, with pheasants curling high off the moorland edge in a south-westerly breez
The Field7 min read
The Buchan-eers
During a summer that included Ferrari-spotting at Mallorca’s Puerto Portals marina, the true luxury was travelling for two days in order to spend 13 hours invaded, and finally overrun, by midges on the Isle of Harris in an attempt to gain a Macnab. T
The Field1 min read
Macadmin
Every estate has its strengths and weaknesses, so it pays to match its strength to your weakness. If the estate drives grouse frequently, these are likely to be more wary than those that are never driven, which may not be a problem if you are a good
The Field5 min read
The Gun With The Gossip
What do you create if you combine a very elegant little Purdey 28-bore hammergun built in 1882 with its original aristocratic lady owner? The gun with the gossip. This gun certainly has it all, with a fascinating provenance to excite. It was built fo
The Field1 min read
The Field Gundog Awards 2021 Winners
OUTSTANDING RETRIEVE BY ANY RETRIEVING BREED WINNER: Ronald Scarce and Weasel OUTSTANDING WORK BY A SPANIEL WINNER: Claudia Richmond and Touche THE BEST AMATEUR PICKER-UP WINNER: Peter Mckensie HERO GUNDOG WINNER: Colin Butcher and Molly THE NAUGHTIE
The Field6 min read
The Judges’ Decision…
How much of a handicap is it for a gundog to lose its sight in one eye? Moss, an English springer spaniel, lost an eye when he was three but it hasn’t stopped him enjoying a long and successful career. According to his owner and handler, Lyn Doubleda
The Field7 min read
Changing Beats On Lower Spey
Every year, there is the potential for the character of any Lower Spey pool to change as the winter floods either deepen a tail ordeposit gravel where it is least wanted. The Spey can take with one flood and give with another. One year’s prime salmon
The Field7 min read
Boxing Clever
It is Twelve Days before Christmas but in hunt kennels across the land all is far from crisp and even – and the only thing that is deep is the muck heap. The Master has sprung some extra days, the prettier grooms have gone missing and the second whip
The Field6 min read
Snow, Snow, Quick, Quick…
The gates spring open. Twelve thoroughbreds surge forwards through a cloud of snowflakes, a gaggle of neon-clad skiers jostling in their wake as scrabbling hooves hurl snow pellets into the sky. A furlong later and the chaos subsides, the horses sett
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How To Skijor
Concierges in the smart hotels in many ski resorts will be able to arrange a skijoring outing. Here are some options for a taster… St Moritz: family days are held on the three Saturdays prior to racedays (5, 12 and 19 February), where kids can try sk
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A Yule Log To Bring Light
In the hall of the rambling Elizabethan farmhouse of my childhood was a wide, inglenook fireplace. Every Christmas Eve, the gardener dragged in an enormous Yule log, balancing it with much heaving and grunting across the fire dogs. This would be lit
The Field8 min read
Feathers And Festivity
Isabella Beeton had no doubt. In her 1861 Book of Household Manage ment, she noted that ‘a Christmas dinner, with the middle classes of this empire, would scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey’. Since then, however, birds have come to dom
The Field7 min read
The Creation Of Father Christmas
It’s fitting that our image of Father Christmas is of a portly old cove bursting out at the seams, because he is in fact two figures squeezed into one vast festive red onesie. Until the late 19th century, Father Christmas and Santa Claus were quite s
The Field6 min read
Style’s Sporting Legacy
For “superior sporting ware”, enthused American society equestrienne and huntress Lida Fleitmann in 1921, “we must of necessity turn to the English, who for centuries have excelled in this line”. From origins in the Georgian and Victorian periods to
The Field7 min read
Shake, Rattle And Pour
As we head towards the dread Christmas, our house rocks to the regular shake, rattle and slosh of the Boston shaker. Son number two, Ludo, 18, is busy honing the skills he learned recently on a residential cocktail-making course at the European Barte
The Field1 min read
Country Estate
HUNTING was a life-long passion for Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton (1883-1962). He was Master of the Chidding-fold & Leconfield on the Surrey/Sussex border from 1915 to 1922. Alfred Munnings painted his portrait to mark the end of his Mastership.
The Field3 min read
Country Queries
Q I have two pony paniers from our house in Scotland. Can you recommend anywhere to get them renovated please? JHB, by email A All About Willow grows its own organic willow on the Isle of Eigg. The firm specialises in pony paniers and items for shoot
The Field8 min read
To The Table
The TV series Downton Abbey, the second film incarnation of which is soon to appear in our cinemas, has a lot to answer for when it comes to people’s perceptions of what to expect from a shooting weekend at a big country house. Certainly, that is wha
The Field2 min read
The Treeby ‘Chain Gun’
THIS striking design is the earliest-known attempt at a linked belt of ammunition, pre-dating Hiram Maxim’s attempt by nearly 30 years. It was the invention of Thomas Wright Gardner Treeby of Paddington, London. Treeby was born at Stoke Damerel in De
The Field1 min read
The Boot Room
Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy have created a range of luxury wallpaper designs that are perfect for the party season. If you are up for a tango with a tiger, this could be for you. Smooth, spongeable, 180gsm paper, with a 52cm repeat; 10 metres per r
The Field3 min read
Art In The Field
WHAT better place could there be to live than in the world of Jonathan Walker’s English countryside? Hares leap about the place dressed as Regency toffs in Tattersall check britches and cut-away coats. A fox quaffs from his hip flask as he rides by o
The Field4 min read
AyA No 2 20-bore de Luxe
THIS month we are testing an interesting deluxe version of a popular sporting gun – the AyA No 2. I came across this model recently when looking for a new gun for a friend. The No 2 has an excellent reputation for reliability and this enhanced model
The Field6 min read
Something You’d Really Like…
HO, HO, HO. It’s Christmas. And it is semi-incumbent on me to be jolly. I certainly don’t feel jolly as I write this, with the nights drawing in, fishing season over and no imminent shooting dates in my diary. But upbeat on your behalf I will be. Man
The Field4 min read
A Festive Treat
MANY years ago my wife worked for an eccentric rural solicitor whose sole companion was a black labrador. Every Christmas, he bought the dog the same present: a pound of sausages. Apparently, the great majority of Britain’s dogs are given Christmas p
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Penny Calvert
GROWING up on the north coast of Scotland, in Caithness, the great outdoors was the playground for myself and two elder sisters. It was here at Sandside that my love of the countryside was firmly cemented. The estate was a working mixed farm and we a
The Field4 min readRegional & Ethnic
Celebrate, Good Times…
AFTER last year’s scaled-down Christmas I hope we are not all feeling rusty on how to throw a festive celebration for more than two people and the family dog. Despite the lack of visitors, I kept up with some traditions – like dusting down the ‘good’
The Field1 min read
The Field Wine Club
♦ Mixed case with four bottles of each wine♦ Or order whole cases of individual wines♦ Champagne, claret and burgundy♦ Reader price £234.40♦ Perfect for the festivities Four bottles of each wine detailed below £250.40 reduced to £234.40 for Field rea
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’Tis The Season To Be Merry
THE key to marital bliss in our house is ensuring that Mrs Ray is kept topped up with tea and Sauvignon Blanc. That’s Earl Grey in the morning (two mugs, skimmed milk) and Lapsang Souchong in the afternoon (one mug, semi-skimmed). Come 6pm, it’s well
The Field2 min read
Genesis GV80
THERE were three Hyundais parked in the farmyard a few weeks ago. There was an i20, a simple and unflashy five-door hatch that serves as ‘pool car’ for the family; a Terracan, a simple and unflashy off-roader that does all the nitty-gritty farm jobs
The Field3 min read
Windows On The World
Few modern writers know and understand the historical complexities of Spain as well as Simon Courtauld. His Footprints in Spain is a must for anyone wanting a detailed insight into Spanish culture, Catholicism, countryside and the corrida. Now he bri
The Field4 min read
The Field From The Archives
The approach of the festive season, with all its pleasures and somewhat onerous obligations, seems to take the majority of us by surprise and, in this respect, hunting people are quite the same as others. Those first six weeks of the hunting season –

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