Dramatic south Cornish scenery and soaring birds provided a satisfying day at this family-owned estate last November, Ewan Davy reports. Photography by Hamish Mitchell
Ewan Davy reports on a satisfying day at the family-owned Lanhydrock Estate, with dramatic Cornish scenery and soaring birds.
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LANHYDROCK ESTATE
Covering 2,500 acres, Lanhydrock Shoot is located in south Cornwall on the dramatic Lanhydrock estate. While Lanhydrock House, gardens and parkland were gifted to the National Trust by the 7th Viscount Clifden and the Robartes family in 1953, the estate and its shoot are in the safe hands of the Viscount’s grandson, Andrew Williams, who took over in 1998. Williams has transformed the family estate into a commercial shoot of the highest order.
“Back in the 1970s my father enjoyed rough shooting typified by bags of 20 birds, great camaraderie and a hearty lunch,” says Williams. “Today, we regularly achieve 200- to 250-bird days but the soul of the shoot remains the same, centred on great companionship and a fine meal served in the shoot lodge. As in my father’s day, lunch remains the cornerstone of the day.”
Ian Williams takes a pheasant through the pines.
Part of the fun of the Lanhydrock Shoot is its peculiarities. Putting work aside for the day is central to that, so they have a no mobile phone rule, except at lunch. If you’re caught using your phone, it’s punishable by the removal of an item of clothing (normally a hat), which is then ceremonially shot. The other endearing part of the day is the sweepstake, half of which goes to charity, including the Air Ambulance that saved Williams’ life some 10 years ago. “I was on the shoot quadbike turning into the drive when a car hit me. Without the local air ambulance, I wouldn’t have survived. I was in intensive care for two weeks, so I’ve a lot to be thankful for,” he explains. Mercifully, he recovered from his injuries, although his name was still entered in the gamebook under ‘Various’.
Formalities out of the way, we mount up and set on our way. Arriving at the first drive, Keith Baileys – named after a local farmer – the guns are lined out. The game crop lies ahead in an elevated position. To our backs are woodland and a pen at the base of the valley. Overcast, with mizzle falling steadily, we wait for the action to start.
A stylish retrieve.
Williams and his guest, John Willis, who owns a tourism business in Cornwall, take up position on the left flank, either side of a hedge. I position myself behind Ian Forrest, a farmer from Tavistock, who is accompanied by his brother-in-law, Dr Michael Caiger. They plan to share his gun for the day.
A little ring-rusty, the guns start off slowly as they get their eye; fortunately there’s no shortage of birds. Driven with great skill, pheasants and partridges emerge in steady numbers. Forrest starts to hit his straps and, despite a few air shots and a degree of teasing from Caiger, he settles in nicely to a handsome drive, taking several high birds and a scorcher of a partridge.
CHANGING GUNS
Oliver Williams, Andrew Williams’ son, changes guns halfway through the drive. Having borrowed a pair of new Holland & Holland 12-bores for the day, he switches back to a 12-bore Piotti, gifted to him by one of the oldest members of the shoot. The 22-year-old immediately connects and a broad smile sweeps across his face. At the other end of the line, Willis and Williams senior take some beauties, the highlight of which is a steeple-scraping partridge.
With that drive out of the way, we hop back on the bus – an ex-Army four-tonner – giving me time to talk to Oliver Williams. He’s a young man with a clear ambition to work in the sporting sector. “Last summer I spent a month working with Zambeze Delta Safari as an apprentice guide. It was a fantastic experience,” he says. “We arranged francolin partridge and guineafowl drives, stalked warthog, eland and water buffalo.”
The owner’s son, Ollie Williams.
The big-game bug has clearly bitten him and he now plans to spend time in Africa in the Northern Cape working at a professional hunters’ school, before going out to Mozambique on a two-year apprenticeship.
As we arrive at Rose Vinnick, the second drive for the day, we descend into the heart of a classic valley woodland setting. Above us are pines, beyond which lies cover crop.
Nathan Strike, headkeeper, has been with the shoot for almost 20 years. He has worked with Williams to transform it from a few walked-up days to a shoot of real class. “We utilise the topography of the estate to best effect and use a mix of game crops,” says the dapper Strike. “Long-term perennial crops, such as miscanthus and artichoke, are used to hold the birds. We’ve also planted more than 40,000 trees, including oak, birch and rowan, and introduced wildlife corridors, recognised by the FWAG [Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group] Otter trophy; we’ve also been Silver Lapwing finalists.”
Headkeeper Nathan Strike.
Following drinks and nibbles, one bank of guns is placed in the pines, the second at the bottom of the valley where deciduous trees provide good territory for snap shooting. The brilliance of this drive is that the birds are pushed high over the pines, each a real tester. I station myself between Oliver Williams and the ambidextrous Simon Oliver, former chairman of Dairy Crest and now a semi-retired farmer. Simon Oliver shoots with skill and shouts of “Great shot!” echo down the valley as he and Mark Allsop, a property developer from East Cornwall, tumble some magnificent birds.
At the end of the drive I stop to chat to Simon Oliver who, due to a growing right-eye dominance, retrained himself to shoot right-handed some 10 years ago. “I am a peculiarity,” he says. “I play squash with both hands, so the transition wasn’t that hard for me. I also switched to a 20-bore over-and-under with 30in barrels. I really like to go for the high birds and, occasionally, I get them.” On today’s performance, that’s an understatement.
Pickers-up Dan Atherton, Julia Staughton, John Mitchell, Kim Nutley and Kate Bayfield.
As we trundle off to the final drive before lunch, Ian Forrest, who shot so well on the first drive, takes time to show me his gun for the day; a handsome 12-bore Holland & Holland from the 1950s, one of a matching trio. He also owns the accompanying triple set of 20-bores that belonged to the former owner’s wife, each sequentially numbered. “My dealer let me know that they were for sale and I just had to have them,” he says.
THE ‘GIN AND TONIC’ PEG
As we arrive at the Five Gates drive I chat to Rear Admiral Rob Woodard. He has the honour of standing on the ‘Gin and Tonic’ peg next to the shoot lodge, where a charged glass is presented to the gun at the start of the drive. Now in his seventies, Woodard has been with the shoot since the 1990s. Today, he shoots less than in his younger days, largely because he’s given up his gun on the Old Quarry DIY shoot near Truro. “The out-of-season maintenance work became too much for me, so I felt it only right to step back,” he explains. “You see I’ve had two false shoulders in the past four years and a replacement hip last year. That makes hammering and so on a challenge, but it doesn’t stop me from shooting.”
It’s the kind of spirit that you’d expect from a man who spent 37 years in the Royal Navy, 16 years of those flying off carriers before being given command of HMS Amazon and HMS Gloucester. He ended his career as Commander of the Royal Yacht Britannia between 1990 and 1995.
Ben Atherton.
With G&T to hand and gun at the ready, Woodard accounts for himself well. Birds cascade down from the woodland and cover crop, casting steepling pheasants and partridges in equal measure over the guns. One stratospheric bird gets the royal salute from all the guns before flying on untouched but plenty more are added to the bag.
After a hearty lunch of roast beef from the estate’s herd of Herefords, we head off for the final two drives and I take the opportunity to talk to husband and wife Ian and Caron Williams, who own The Star Inn at Sparsholt, which specialises in game dishes. The two shoot together regularly. Ian Williams, who’s had a good morning, hunted regularly before a riding accident – his heart stopped and he fell from his horse resulting in a traumatic brain injury – but, like so many on this shoot, he too has overcome the odds to continue with the sport he relishes. “We love to be out in the field together,” says Caron. “We’ve travelled the world shooting. It’s one of our passions.” Having had what she describes as her “highest right-and-left to date on Rose Vinnick”, she is looking forward to a busy afternoon.
Skipper.
While the bulk of the guns trudge up to the start of the drive, affectionately known as Blood, Sweat and Tears, Woodard catches a lift in the ATV, which deposits him on the left flank; a hot-spot early on in the drive. As for much of the day, the clouds close in and a steady drizzle falls. We line out at the foot of a great hill that rises far above, woodland to the left flank and to our backs. As our eyes glance up to the summit, we are presented with what resembles a hill fort, tufts of miscanthus forming the outer defences.
Andrew Williams talks us through the drive: “The cover crop is driven from the left and the right, releasing birds on both flanks, before the beaters squeeze them in to the middle.” As predicted, birds emerge on the left, keeping Woodard busy, then on the right, occupying Oliver Williams. Next, along the entirety of the line, high birds explode over the guns. There’s no respite and all nine guns are in action. Another great flush of birds and this time just two drop – the confusion of choice.
CHALLENGING BIRDS
As the guns scramble for cartridges, calm is restored and the quality of shooting rises. Caiger gets his eye in and fells a beauty. To his right, Allsop is on fire, selecting only the most challenging birds and dropping one after another with aplomb, including a towering partridge. Farther down the line, Woodard has moved to a back-gun position, hitting an absolute skier to a multiple of plaudits.
Standing back and observing the amphitheatre of action, the drive is quite definitely the highlight of the day. The horn blows and pickers-up emerge with great clumps of birds. This is a drive that will live long in the memory for its drama, setting and raw excitement – certainly worth the years of work that have gone into creating it.
Ian Forrest and Dr Michael Cager.
Yard Drive, the finale for the day, is less dramatic but the good shooting continues and the party returns to the Lodge hugely satisfied with the mix of high birds and high jinks. The bag for the day is 239, including a crow, a species that is the more usual candidate for entry in the ‘Various’ column on the shoot card.
The Lanhydrock shoot currently sells 30 days a season, retaining eight for its long-standing syndicate.
Guests can enjoy 200- to 250-bird days in late October through to end November, 150- to 200-bird days in December and 100+ in January, at £38 per bird excluding VAT (£45.60).
For further details, call 01208 75244; email andrew.williams@lanhydrock.com or visit: www.lanhydrockestate.com