‘I was the laid-back one'

Having seemingly hung up his horn for good, respected master of foxhounds Trevor Adams is lured back into hunt service, reveals Tessa Waugh

- Tessa Waugh

WHO was it who said, “A man should take a pack of hounds, if only to experience the relief upon giving them up”?

In 2014, Trevor Adams completed 25 years as master and huntsman of the Duke of Buccleuch’s, a long period of stability by any hunt’s standards. After giving up the hounds, he took a year’s sabbatical before joining the Buccleuch as a subscriber, enjoying a novel chance to hunt without the hassle associated with being a master. He reiterates this now, sitting beside the fire in the Ednam House Hotel in Kelso.

“Subscribers haven’t got a clue how lucky they are. They pay a few quid, go hunting when they want, go home when they want. The telephone never rings, and they even have a chance to complain once a year at the AGM,” he says.

He seemed so content with the new arrangement that it was surprising two years ago to hear that he had taken on the mastership of the Jed Forest, with his friend, Jamie Scott, another former master of the Buccleuch. What possessed him to throw his hat in the ring again?

Trevor takes up the story: “Someone on the Jed Forest committee rang me to say that their huntsman had left at a late stage of the season. They’d had too many changes recently and would I help them out? I wasn’t keen and told them, ‘No, I’m too old.’”

It transpired that the Jed (as they are known locally) were harbouring a keen, amateur whipper-in called Gavin Scott and, having been rebuffed, they came back with a new proposal.

“They told me that they would like Gavin to have a go [at hunting the hounds] and he will, if you agree to help him,” recalls Trevor, “so I told him I would be very happy to do that.”