Two classic Hampshire shooting estates

In the first week of July I happened to be spending a few days at my parent's place in Hampshire, house sitting while they were away fishing in Scotland. Apart from providing a welcome break from the confines of my small London flat, the sojourn presented me with the chance to go and take a look around a couple of great Hampshire shooting estates.

 

Being a Hampshire lad myself, I am well aware that the county has a lot going for it when it comes to shooting. Despite being one of the most densely populated counties in the UK, it has a wide variety of stunning landscapes, from the ancient New Forest to the South Downs. In terms of topography, descriptions of the county tend to be full of words like “rolling” and “undulating”. The downland is almost unique to the south east of England, and the bedrock chalk - the shells of tiny sea creatures laid down in the cretaceous period - mimics the swell of the sea in which they swam or crawled, in rolling (sorry) waves, interspersed with the occasional more precipitous bombora and white horse. In addition to some pretty decent ground, Hampshire is easy to get to from London - under an hour away by train or car. There’s also a cracking selection of pubs, hotels and restaurants.

 

Both of the shoots I was to visit are managed by Kieth Gorsuch, a jovial bearded gentleman who I met at my first destination, Steventon Estate, along with the head keeper John Blunden, who would give me the tour.

 

 

Although the estate is just seven miles from Basingstoke you wouldn’t know it. Lichfield Grange, the venue for morning coffee and shoot lunches, is a gorgeous redbrick farmhouse in classic Hampshire style, the front door framed by climbing plants.

 

Photo credit: George Gunn Photography

 

Keith dashed off to a meeting, leaving John to give me a whistle-stop tour of some of the drives. With more than 20 drives on the 2,000 acre estate and a tight schedule, I wouldn’t be able to see all of them, but I was able to get a pretty good feel for the ground.

We’re not talking deep valleys here, but classic Hampshire ground of the kind I have shot over on innumerable occasions. It is always a bit odd looking at drives in the summer, when the trees are in leaf and the crops stand tall, but even in this situation I could tell that decent birds would come from Steventon Firs, where birds are driven from purpose-planted mature wood over a line of guns stationed either side of a hedgeline, in the bottom of a gently sloping hollow.

 

Steventon Firs last season - photo credit: George Gunn Photography

 

A second drive that caught my eye sits behind the estate’s main house - South Litchfield Grange. The house itself is stunning, and is flanked by a flint barn - a building material that is quintessentially Hampshire - that is sometimes the setting for elevenses in poor weather.

 

 

In good weather, this takes place next to the lake that sits behind the house, which we pass on our way to the drive - Cottage.

 

 

On this drive, guns are lined out in a field framed by belts of trees. The field is a kind of bowl, and seen from the top, where the birds are flushed from cover behind the belt, you get a feel for the change in altitude far better than you do from the bottom. I can imagine that this drive undoes a few experienced guns who misjudge the height.

 

 

Sadly, with time pressing on, we were unable to inspect the partridge drives which sit on a different part of the estate. Hampshire was always well suited to partridge shooting and on this traditionally laid out estate, a mixture of pasture and arable ground, replete with tall belts of trees and hedges, I can well imagine that classic starburst keeping guns on their toes. Keith tells me the partridge shooting is especially good!

 

Photo credit: George Gunn Photography

 

All in all, Steventon looks like a cracking shoot, and since John and Keith have been running the show for the last 12 years or so, I imagine they have it well-grooved, something backed up by reviews from GunsOnPegs members on the shoot’s listing. Flexible bags of 250- 300 are available for partridge from September and mixed pheasant and partridge days from October.

 

See availability at Steventon Estate

Tempus fugit, as they say, so John and I buzzed a short distance up the M3 to the second stop on my brief tour - Farleigh Wallop Shoot. The estate is owned by the Earl of Portsmouth and has been a shooting estate since the 1870s, though Keith and John have taken on the management of it for the first time this coming season. Upon arrival it is immediately obvious that I’m about to see something special. If Steventon is a glass of well-made sloe gin, Farleigh Wallop is the champagne poured over the top. It must be one of the best shoots in the county - oh what I would give to see it in full swing.

 

The estate covers some 4,000 acres, but the focal point for the shooting is a dramatic deep valley flanked by tall pines. A footpath runs through the bottom and the guns are positioned thereon. Many of the drives take place along this valley, and it looks an absolute belter. One can imagine birds, wings set, cruising over the top of the trees at a height that many would consider to be out of range.

 

 

To mix things up a bit, and prevent the shooting from becoming ‘same-y’, there are drives elsewhere on the estate, outside the valley, making use of the ancient broadleaf woodland. As we drove around the estate I saw trees that were clearly many centuries old, something of a rarity for the region, where the chalk, just a couple of feet below the surface, prevents them from setting strong roots.

 

 

Something else that caught my eye was the game cover - Farleigh Wallop has a lot, and John gleefully told me about his plans for more in coming seasons. In addition, there’s some unusual planting that John said was incredibly effective: Pampas grass. Planted in long rows, John said that in the season each of the avenues between the plants holds countless birds, offering shelter from the elements as well as cover, and sunny spots in the rows. It takes a few years to mature, he said, but was well worth the investment of time. It is sometimes said that the presence of this plant in a suburban front garden indicates that the residents are swingers… I’m not sure what its presence on a shoot signals.

 

 

Sadly we were unable to visit the house itself, but glimpsed through the trees at a distance, its a grand country house built of the flint that was mentioned above. Shooting parties can stay overnight at Farleigh House, where I understand that the catering, accommodation and cellar(!) match the shooting. Those shooting on a weekday, but without an overnight stay, can use the house for lunches morning coffee, and afternoon tea for a £1,000 premium. For those without deep enough pockets for the £8,000 a night price tag, or those close enough to make it a day-trip, the shoot lodge makes a great substitute for shoot lunches and morning coffee, and the use of this is included in the price of the birds.

All in all these, are two fantastic examples of Hampshire shooting estates. Keith and John are extremely friendly and every day is hosted by Keith or one of his representatives. For those looking for back-to-back days, they are keen to arrange these, shooting at both estates, and the quality and location of these two shoots mean that they should be high up your list, while the style of shooting at each one offers means that they complement each other perfectly.