Glyndebourne Shoot East Sussex

It might be more famous for the high notes but this South Downs estate shows some impressively high birds, too.

- Mary Bremner

Glyndebourne, owned by the Christie family, is very much a family affair. The 40 shoot days each year include let days, but the family only deal with friends and people they know, so it’s an exclusive club. And the family theme extends to the keeping team too. Husband and wife Colin and Jane Hartley are the longstanding custodians of the land here. Colin is now in his 40th year and Jane her 30th, while his daughter Bobbie and

Jane’s son Luke are the under keepers, having served for many years and never worked anywhere else. Colin and Jane are passionate about pheasants, breeding many ornamental varieties, including Reeves, as well as English partridge that may be shot on driven days. They also hatch and rear all the pheasants that are released on the shoot. The let days are sold as either high-ground days or low ground, but we were assured that birds are demanding on both.

On the day of our visit we were the guests of Bill Hunter, a regular on the shoot who has been taking days for many years. His guests, most of whom had shot here before, were a friendly bunch and very much looking forward to the day. It was a high-ground day so the bag would be between 200 and 250 and we would enjoy some drives on the top of the Downs, which sounded very exciting.

“It’s one of the best shoots in the county,” Robin Marten told me, and then, with a big grin, “it can also be a very levelling day – the birds are extremely challenging.”

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