On the way to the first drive we pass a historic farm, low on the left. This, according to Nick Lamb of the Bourne syndicate, was used as a base by the four Norman knights who set out to assassinate Thomas Becket, St Thomas of Canterbury, in 1170. Halfway between Kent’s cathedral city and Dover, we rattle along an old farm track to the start point of what has been billed ‘a unique shoot day for nine guns on four of Kent’s premier shooting estates’. Organised by the Kent committee of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), this is the second time in five years that such a prize has been donated. Paul Kelsey, raspberry farmer and GWCT chairman for Kent, explains, “Each county has a committee of volunteers who run fundraising events on behalf of the GWCT. The Fantasy Four days are a great way of raising a substantial amount of money in one hit. It appeals to those who benefit directly from the work of the GWCT locally. Everything depends on the generosity of individual landowners and shoots, each contributing a top drive without charge.”
At £200 a ticket we’re not talking small beer but with just 250 tickets on sale the odds are good and the prize, for those lucky enough to win, is sensational: the opportunity to raise the barrels on some of the best private shoots in the country.
As we draw up to a lone farm building, vehicles start to assemble. It’s a bright day, something of a miracle given the wild November storm that tore through the county the night before. “How will the birds fly?” is the question that forms the standard pre-shoot murmuration.
Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin January 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin January 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
Fodder
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