Street Farm, Jevington
14th January

Hounds met by kind invitation of Jo Carr and Steve Goldman - who's recent purchase of Street Farm has added a new dimension to this traditional downland meet. It was a cloudy day without much wind, but the weather closed in later with low cloud and drizzle.

Hounds set off after a very convivial meet, although the huntsman felt thwarted in his desire to hunt the hounds through the house at the start of the first line for a lively housewarming! The field was small but very knowledgeable - all barring one had had their hunt buttons awarded by one hunt or another, and Jo Carr was field master for the day.

The hounds set off behind the house through the sheep, picking up the line and surging on over the first post and rail. However they soon encountered foiled ground caused by a herd of cattle being driven over the line by three farm workers. This puzzled the hounds, to the relief of the field which was hard pressed to keep up, but they soon worked their way over the jumps to Hanging Hill. The quarry had turned around the dewpond, a hazard that almost caught out some of the field galloping up the hill, as they were unable to see the dewpond until they were almost over the rim.

Unfortunately, some of the field were unable to get over an angled post and rail with a sharp drop, which led them to attempt to jump a fence higher up, crossing the line the quarry had run back from Hanging Hill - leaving the poor field master to get a ticking off! However, the hounds hardly faltered and skirting the Neolithic camp and running away from the foiled ground, their pace increased. Jumping out of Street Farm onto Richard Martin's land the hounds streamed down the steep hill, across the bridleway and, turning up the other side of the valley, they jumping the boundary fence into Richard Brown's Babylon field. The horses had to pick their way here as the field had recently been used by numerous people for tobogganing, and the rubbish they left behind was unbelievable, from trays to old toboggans. Hounds hunted up towards Butts Brow, where the quarry had stopped short of their original target as there were cattle in the way. Below us was Richard Brown's Chalk Farm, said to be the inspiration for George Orwell's Animal Farm, with Butt's Brow represented as the steep hill Boxer the cart horse climbed everyday toiling for the benefit of his farmyard comrades, until unceremoniously sent off to the knackers (to the great distress of our huntsman when he first read the book many years ago!).

The hounds were taken through the car park and up the Weald Way towards Willingdon Hill. They were laid on parallel with the South Downs Way and raced all the way down to Clare's Bottom (named after Master Clare Miles unscheduled dismount here some seasons back). The quarry diverted here to avoid the cattle, taking the hounds through the blackthorn bushes over the hill towards Pea Down, where they were caught near the dewpond.

The next hunt was all around the valley, and the quarry could be seen from where we stood, struggling up the steep hills. Unnoticed by the huntsman and whips, the hounds were taking much interest in where the quarry were going and when they were laid on, much to our surprise, only four hounds hunted the line away to the first jump and back again on the far bank, the rest followed Ronald, who cut the corner jumping the wire fence straight to where he had last seen the quarry. There then followed a figure of eight hunt with the hounds untouched and the field struggling to keep up on the hills. While waiting for the quarry to run the next line, it was a great pleasure to see our host Willy Higgs and his daughter Nicola, who usually rides, who were watching the day's hunting unfold over the beautiful steep downland valleys of their farm.

The hounds then hunted uphill parallel with the Weald Way, catching their quarry at the old farm buildings on top of Willingdon Hill. It was starting to drizzle and the fog was coming down while the field sheltered behind the trees waiting for the quarry to run the last line. There then followed a classic downland hunt with the hounds laid on in Richard Brown's grass field. They raced towards the gorse bushes on the top of Harewick Bottom where there was a slight check as the scent had blown in the wind. They then turned parallel with the South Downs Way racing down into Oxendean crossing the footpaths back onto Richard Martin's farm and climbing the hill to reenter Street Farm and race down to the back of the house, along Home Bottom.

It was a great day on the Downs, we were lucky with the weather and the best hound of the day was Ronald. The horses were very tired and we all retired to the farmhouse for an excellent Angela tea, supplemented by a bean and sausage stew cooked up by Fizz Carr. Louise, Blobbie and Robbie were the quarry for the day.