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Hunt facts: Avon Vale

Rory Knight Bruce

31 January, 2005

Hunt: in 1888, the eighth Duke of Beaufort loaned the country to Captain John Spicer of Spye Park, who hunted it until the present formation of the hunt in 1912. Former masters include Sir Gerald and Sir John Fuller, Viscount Knutsford, Major John Bartholomew, Charles Bartholomew and Captain Frank Spicer

Country: charming and well-kept kennels at Spye Park, Lacock. The AVH hunts Tuesdays and Saturdays with occasional bye-days. Hunt fences, rails and hedges divide a pasture country with a portion of Salisbury Plain. It is good scenting and well foxed.

Best thing about the hunt: “Its spirit and the fact the hunt is in very good heart. Everyone is pulling together and we’re well placed for the future,” says Jonathon Seed MFH

“The farmers are brilliant. I’ve hunted here all my life and the atmosphere is as good as it’s ever been, ” says country captain Mike Smith

Most challenging aspect: “You never know what you’ll come up against. You need a horse who will jump off nothing. This doesn’t have to be a galloping Thoroughbred but a half-bred who will stay, jump and go,” says Jonathon Seed

  • This hunt focus was first published in Horse & Hound (20 January, '05)





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