i8o AN OPEN CREEL 



many good men and true who regard it as the haven 

 where they would be. A grey cottage amongst the 

 trees, with the gable of the Court in view, a roomful 

 of books, a good nag on which to jog to Fair ford or 

 Cirencester, or, maybe, to "look at " the hounds, and 

 the freedom of a mile or two of the Coin, the bright 

 stream gliding and winding among the green grass- 

 lands, luxuriant woods, and ancient grey stone houses, 

 manor, farm, and cottage of such threads are one's 

 dreams spun. 



FAIRFORD 



The places where a man of moderate means can get 

 a few days of real dry-fly fishing on payment of a 

 reasonable daily sum are sadly few surprisingly few 

 when one considers how greatly the popularity of the 

 dry fly has increased of late years, and how many 

 people there must be sighing for opportunities. I 

 should have thought that it would be worth the while 

 of some enterprising person to try the experiment of 

 taking a good stretch of a good river within reach of 

 London, and issuing day tickets. But perhaps the 

 profits would not repay the trouble and investment, 

 and the consciousness of altruism, though pleasant, is 

 not in itself a sufficient basis for commercial activity. 



As things are, one has but a small selection of 

 accessible dry-fly waters, and, as places are, I know 

 none of these that has more to recommend it than 

 Fairford. The Coin there is rather bigger than at 

 Bibury, and it holds rather bigger fish. It is, perhaps, 

 fished harder, and big baskets are not to be looked 

 for. Still, it is a very charming piece of water, 



