From Low-Key to Top Three: The Story of Blannicombe Shoot

Words and photography by Matt Kidd

GunsOnPegs:Who is Gareth Stevens?

Gareth Stevens: I am the owner of the Blannicombe shoot near Honiton in East Devon, set in a truly wonderful valley, which I took on in 2020 with my wife Sam. In addition to this, we also set up our own game hatchery and rearing business, Blannicombe Game Ltd, which now provides some of the top shoots in the country with quality, English-reared pheasants and partridge. Other than that, I am a family man and out-and-out fieldsports enthusiast. All of what I do, wouldn’t be possible without Sam, who even gets hands on with setting the eggs ready for hatching all the way through to making some of the delicious pies we serve on our shoot days.

How it started

GoP: Tell us a little bit about your background.

Gareth: My passion for fieldsports started when I was at school in Warwickshire, when I would go shooting and fishing with Dad at every chance. By my early teens, I knew a career working with game was for me, so at 16 I left school and went to work for Heart of England Farms, one of the largest game farms in the country.

The founder, Ole Gronning, took me under his wing and – though he knew I wasn’t going to stay there long as I wanted to be a gamekeeper – taught me all the different roles required for pheasant and partridge rearing. From washing eggs to looking after poults and everything in between, it was incredibly busy and gave me enough exposure to the different elements I needed for my next venture.

After a year, an opening came up to work on the Packington Estate due to ill health of one of their keepers. I jumped at the chance and working under headkeeper Matt Nesbit for 18 months I had my first gamekeeping role, learned a lot and really enjoyed it. Next, I went over to Ireland to Dromoland Castle where I spent another three seasons as underkeeper, before an opportunity came up to work singlehandedly on a private estate back home in Warwickshire.

I loved the step up; the satisfaction I felt having climbed the ladder to being able to run things on my own was massive. I stayed here for seven great years before relocating down to Devon to manage a shoot for a private Dutch syndicate.

Eight years later, an opportunity to take on the Blannicombe shoot came along. I had always worked for somebody, and it isn't often you get the change to run your own shoot and thought, stick or twist, so with full support from my other half I gave it a go. We had a pretty rough time in the first year or so with it being COVID-19, but we managed to come out the other side and have made some serious improvements and expansion, transforming it into the fantastic shoot that it is today.

GoP: Tell us a little bit about the shoot.

Gareth: We are a typical, family-run East Devon shoot, offering some stunning valley shooting over our 2,000 acres. I focus on the shooting elements and my wife looks after all the catering and hospitality, accounting and so on. We are a commercial operation, running 30 days a year with bags starting from 200 birds up to 450. We are not an ‘extreme’ shoot, instead we focus on showing challenging, great quality but still shootable birds of the 40-yard mark and up. Of course, if the weather conditions are perfect – an overcast, damp day with a south-westerly wind for us – we can show some truly spectacular pheasants and partridge that would rival anywhere.

There are two keepers as well as me, and one special USP is all our game starts from the egg, here at our game farm – it is hard work but it is very rewarding and satisfying. With this in mind, we are one of the very few shoots to never charge overages, and our price per bird is £60 this year, and if predictions for costs (feed, electricity, fuels etc.) are true, we expect that to drop a little for the following season.

Our location is ideal, too, being one of the closest shoots in Devon for anyone travelling from the north, being only 15 miles from the M5 and just off the A303.

Forward thinking

GoP: What changes have you made to the shoot since your ownership?

Gareth: Blannicombe has been a shoot for many years – at least 20 or 30, probably more. However, it was never more than a low-key affair. When we took it on there were just eight drives in total, today there are 15. It is a mixture of pasture farms and woodland, and we have very steep valleys. The woodland was little managed and so we have worked hard to bring it to its full potential, for example coppicing areas to let light in and improve the habitat, replanting in other areas and so on, working with the Combe Estate team.

We have also put in a lot more cover crops and planted many wild bird mixtures. Some of the cover crops are two-year rotations which offers many benefits to songbirds, butterflies and insects. We also keep better control of all the vermin, and there is a small river that runs through the shoot which is often frequented by some troublesome mink.

We have added feeders, too, but our drives are actually whistle fed, which is very traditional method which I believe gives us more control. When the birds go to wood, that means feeding three times a day, dropping to two as we approach the season and then just once a day during the winter.

We are always improving though, and as such we plan to have another 4-5 drives within the next 5-7 years. That’ll mean further woodland management and planting of more cover crops, which will also give us further control in diverse weather conditions. In addition, we are in the process of erecting a lovely stone building for elevenses which we plan to be completed for the 2024/25 season, and are in the market for a new buggy to operate as a mobile refreshments wagon.

Our existing clients will also be pleased to know that we have just signed a 10-year sporting lease, having just completed our five-year term.

GoP: And what about the game farm?

Gareth: We have garnered a great reputation over the last five years for providing healthy, strong pheasants and partridge. We had a very successful hatchery and rearing season in 2023, supplying a lot of the big shoots here in the West Country and nationwide.

A big bonus for those looking for birds is we offer English stock, either day-olds, pheasant and partridge poults, and even surplus eggs. We maintain overwinter stock, and all our game is blood tested and vaccinated, working with Golden Veterinary Practice who are ‘Trusted Game’ certified. Our pheasant strains are ring necks, bazanty or black neck crosses, and we deliver chicks nationwide and poults within a 100-mile radius. There is also no minimum order, depending on location, so we can supply every shoot right the way down to DIY and Small syndicate operations.

To expand and also future-proof our business, we are also taking on a site outside of our 10km radius, so if there are any bird flu zones in our area we can still function and provide our customers with quality game.

A typical Devon shoot day

GoP: Outline a typical Blannicombe shoot day.

Guns arrive at 9am for the shoot briefing and drawing of pegs in the dining room, over a cup of tea and coffee. We then get booted up and load into our custom Gunbus – fitted with lockers, gun storage area and even a kennel at the front to house wet dogs on very rainy days – ready to head to the first drive at 9.30am. We will then have three drives with refreshment breaks after the first two, before a sumptuous elevenses comprising all homemade produce – this week included pheasant, apple and chorizo pies, along with sausages, a meat platter, chutneys and more, even a home baked cake.

We will then head onto the final drive before bringing Guns back for a wonderful evening meal, likely a roast, followed by dessert and cheese and biscuits, with all drinks throughout the day included in the price.

We go above and beyond on everything we can on a shoot day. We are incredibly welcoming and relaxed – I really dislike rushing teams – and we make sure our hospitality is every bit as good as the shooting.

GoP: What percentage of customers rebook again for the following season?

Gareth: Nearly 90 per cent. We have had days this year where guys are asking for next year’s diary dates without even finishing their evening meal. The majority of teams have come back every season since I took it on, with teams now booking 5, 6 or even 7days with us. Back-to-back days are also becoming increasingly popular.

GoP: How can people buy a day at Blannicombe?

Gareth: Firstly, we sell a couple of single-peg days through GunsOnPegs, right the way through to full team bookings directly. As an expectation of shooting, a good team of guns on an average day will shoot at a ratio of 5:1. On a challenging day, this could increase significantly.

GoP: Any further plans for the future?

Gareth: I live and breathe Blannicombe and Blannicombe Game. Everything I do is based around shooting and improving what we have.

Blannicombe is taking bookings for the 2024/25 season now. Enquiries for all days are welcome. Visit GunsOnPegs to see availability