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Kitchenham
Farm Hounds met at Kitchenham Farm by kind invitation of Mr and Mrs Worssam. It was a warm sunny day to start, but clouded over with a cool light northerly wind. The going was very firm. Suitably fortified at the lawn meet, (where one of the topics of conversation had been the sight of Master Nigel Dean out on a horse known as Dangerous Eric (!) which he had borrowed from Brian Stern), the field followed the hounds out onto the main road. Crossing the road, hounds were laid on into a field of rape in full flower. After some excited activity in the rape, as they jumped up to see where they were, hounds hunted down the side of Wilding Wood before turning back on themselves and following the track through the wood and past the pheasant pens, coming out into the water meadows. They hunted at such a pace, the field was hard pressed to stay in touch. Hounds then hunted on up the hill, giving the numerous foot followers at the meet an excellent view. Running parallel with the main road past Hazard's Green they swung back down to the water meadows to take their quarry near the Battle Road. We had one faller during a sharp hunt, with the horses rattling on the hard ground and finding it difficult to keep up. For the second hunt the hounds were taken over the road and laid on over the Ash Bourne River. They hunted along the water meadows behind Kitchenham Farm and on through the corn. Swimming the river into the grass field, they turned and swum several dykes before reaching The Pound. Here they hunted up into Lingham's Farm and without hesitating they hunted through the farm yard and out into the corn fields beyond. Dropping down past the duck pond, they hunted on over the hill past the badger sets, which made for an interesting bending course for the horses, before taking the quarry just short of Henley's Bridge Stud. David Betts ended the line with red raw knuckles from jamming his knuckles onto his horse's wither to try and hold him. The third hunt saw the pack taken down the drive to Gardeners Farm and laid on into a large corn field where they hunted down towards the Nunningham Stream. Here the hounds were confused by the numerous members of the Akehurst family who had come to watch us cross their land. But they sorted themselves out without help and were away leaving everyone on the wrong side of the stream. Here two interesting boundary fences had to be jumped, one of which claimed master Nigel Dean and Dangerous Eric, the latter of which then proceeded to gallop up and down an immaculately rolled field of grass, frustrating the efforts of Joy Ramus, who was trying to catch it. Once caught, Nigel was unable to get back on and decided to call it a day. Meanwhile the hounds were really flying. They hunted on past the concrete works and up Long's Wood with nobody in touch. Luckily they were brought to their noses in a field of manured and rotavated ground. Here they hunted very slowly down the hill crossing the boundary fence onto the Reids' land. Once out of the manure they were off at top speed up the hill and around 14 Acre Wood. As they sped down the hill, with the field in hot pursuit, chairman (and birthday boy) James Ramus suddenly found himself flat on his back on the ground. His horse had shied at some round bales, taking him completely off guard, depositing him with a thump. (That's two Ramuses down in two weeks!). Caroline Richardson took the horse back and the two were reunited and completed the day. The hounds meanwhile crossed the stream and, skirting Cowden Farm, they hunted up the hill through Cowden Wood which was an amazing sight, carpeted with bluebells in full flower. The field, which had been held up catching James's horse, overshot the turning into the wood. Once they found the way in, they set off at full gallop to try and catch up, but the bluebells were not to be denied their victim, Brian Stern, whose horse managed to slip on a large patch of them, depositing him on the ground. He hunted on for the rest of the day with very green knees! Hunting out of Cowden Wood, the hounds took their quarry in a very black pond just south of Prinkle Lane. A fast hunt, most of which the hounds hunted totally unaided. The pack was taken through Bodle Street Green (soon to be the venue for the Quarry Supper on May 11th) before being laid on off the bridleway behind Pear Tree Farm. The hounds flew away down the hill on the immaculately rolled grass fields which were amazingly slippery for the horses to ride over. There were three interesting ditches which caused minor chaos in the field. Nicky Hicks inevitably came a cropper at one of the ditches, when, having tried to encourage everyone in front not to look down into the deep ditch as they jumped, then landed almost spread-eagled on the other side on her young horse, a manoeuvre then repeated by the girl right behind, although both managed to stay aboard. Meanwhile, hounds were really flying on and had no time to look down. They jumped the boundary fence with a sharp left turn down into the wood, which is more than can be said for the rest of the field. While the hounds hunted on across the road into Lattenden Farm, where the van de Meers were standing on the hill waving, most of the field decided to go with Master Clare Miles and find another way round. With the hounds and the front runners by this time long gone, Jo Carr and three others decided to jump on and see whether they could track them down, hunting the hunt. They were helped by the occasional sighting of Roger Manning galloping in a field across the other side of the valley, and the van de Meers shouting directions from the top of the hill! They eventually got lost, but luckily at that moment Clare and the rest of the field came over the horizon and put them back on the right track. Meanwhile, with only the huntsman in touch, the hounds took the line through Pagden Wood and on to take the quarry at the back of the kennels. Having taken their uninvited route around the countryside, the field was now back on track, but then brought up short again by a post and rail followed by a very deep gully, with deep mud on the landing side. Most picked their way through, with one girl on a grey putting in the most magnificent leap, which few felt that they could have sat it in her place! But as the rest of the field galloped on, there was one hound and two horses left behind in the gully. Here field master Roger Manning and whip Bill Boniface leapt to the rescue, as Bill got off his horse and went down to effectively carry the hound up and out, and Roger got onto Jenny Robert's cob and, with Jenny pushing from behind, drove the horse over the ditch, to arrive beaming on the other side! Jenny's day was not over, as when she eventually arrived home, it was to realise that her box was also stuck in the mud! Hounds really hunted this last hunt extremely well, in spite of all the natural hazards they encountered on the way and were totally unaided from start to finish. We then enjoyed an excellent tea, where we sang happy birthday to James - who would not directly divulge his age but is believed to be in his later 60s! His father Pop Ramus was also following, an equally young 97! The quarry was Adrian and Louise and Robbie. POSTSCRIPT: Much relieved to finally get home, Jenny Robert's posted the following "thank you" message in the Guestbook:
"I would like to send a note of thanks to all the very kind
people
Firstly, this is in order of the messes, to Roger Manning, for
Secondly, to the lovely lady who gave me a lift back to my box,
Lastly, though definitely not the least, to Blobbie and all the other
Not an uneventfully day out, which could have been ghastly if not |