Layer Marney Shoot

Our days start with a breakfast roll, tea, and coffee on arrival, followed by a short safety briefing and peg draw. After the second drive, we provide a morning break consisting of a selection of alcoholic and soft drinks and a spread of savoury and sweet treats to keep you going until lunch.

We provide a sit-down lunch in our on-site facilities. Menus can be discussed in advance, and we try to incorporate the game we shoot throughout the season back into our lunches. Our gun bus will transport you and your team throughout the day.

We have a selection of traditional Essex lowland pheasant and partridge drives. Our birds are driven from cover crops over hedges or mature woodland. We pride ourselves on presenting the best birds we can with our available conditions. They'll be something for all levels of experience and skill to enjoy at a sensible price.

Our topography is that of a traditional lowland Essex shoot. With gradients few and far between, we make the most of the woods and hedges we have available to present our birds. We also rear our birds to a high standard to present the strongest birds we can on the day. There will be something for all skill levels on all of our drives.

Most of the land we shoot has elements of countryside stewardship and SFI. Winter bird food plots and species-rich grasslands combine traditional game cover plots to create the best habitat for wild and game birds.

We also manage our woodland for the benefit of all wildlife, and our yearly bird counts have yielded good results. Our intensive predator management campaign means we have excellent numbers of nesting birds every spring.

Our shoot is a team effort, consisting of two shoot partners and my wife. My mother-in-law does an excellent job helping with the hospitality. My father has over 50 years of experience in the industry and is always in the background, offering wisdom. We all contribute to different aspects of the day, from keepering, hospitality, and hosting to placing guns on each drive. It's a family affair, and we like a friendly, relaxed, informal atmosphere where teams can relax and enjoy the day's banter with some good sport along the way.

Follow the Sat Nav directions for the postcode provided until you pick up the brown tourist road signs for Layer Marney Tower and then follow the signs.

Our shoot has been running for 8 years. Since COVID and bird flu, we have scaled back and moved away from being a commercial shoot. We now have over 600 acres, shooting 14 days per season.

We sell a small number of let days to cover the costs of running the shoot, which allows my shoot partner and me to have a guest day each and invite friends and family.

Sited around the impressive Tudor gatehouse, Layer Marney Tower offers unique surroundings in Essex where you can enjoy a day's shooting.