(cont)

diners can now enjoy game nights at the restaurant for a complete celebration of the sport and a greater appreciation of how to serve pheasant, partridge, duck, hare, rabbits and pigeon, all of which are taken from the estate, dressed and hung for four days and used by head chef Paul Hoad at the pub… and the venue’s game evenings are proving popular, with Malcolm and his team supplying the pheasants, partridge and duck to the restaurant each week.

Novices and experienced guns alike are welcome, as are groups of between eight and 10, with a team of 40 supporting the estate and the Duke himself particularly passionate in respect of supporting the sport.

Days typically begin at sunrise - 6am or thereabouts – with the five keepers feeding their respective areas with the maize and millet also grown on the estate and used as a cover crop. Shoot days begin at around 9am following breakfast and a quick coffee, and consist of either four morning drives with a further two after a game based lunch, with each drive lasting 20-30 minutes, or a total of six drives followed by a substantial meal of game in the pub.

Each drive provides a mixture of pheasants and partridges with a team of six pickers-up helping to gather the quarry.

Such is the quality of the shooting on the estate that it’s usual for the same groups to return to the estate two or three times per season to appreciate the heavy, wooded valleys, the challenging drives and the brilliantly maintained countryside.

The winter season will see over 50 shoots right up until January, including private days which are the preserve of the Duke and his acquaintances, and next year, there begins a massive exercise in estate management working with the estate’s woodland division’s four strong team to maintain the land for next season’s shooting.

During the Spring months, Malcolm and his team will involve themselves in vermin control – particularly with regard to stoats, rats and magpies, and embark upon a programme of maintaining rearing equipment ready for the arrival of chicks and poults throughout the summer for release into the woods and fields in June and July to ensure that there is enough stock along with the natural wild stock for the shooting season.