A FAMOUS LAKELAND FOXHOUND 



PACK 



CHAPTER XXV 



AS you cross the summit of Kirkstone Pass, 

 and drop down the steep descent to Hart- 

 sop, or travel from Penrith via the road 

 which Hes parallel with Ullswater, you eventually 

 reach the village of Patterdale, lying snugly 

 ensconsed at the foot of the fells. A stranger 

 visiting the place for the first time would hardly 

 guess that situated on the outskirts of the village 

 are the kennels of a pack of foxhounds, and that 

 the high fells all round — including the mighty 

 Helvellyn — are the happy hunting ground of a 

 famous north-country pack. 



Certainly the mountainous character of the 

 district hardly fits in with one's pre-conceived idea 

 of a hunting country, and as a matter of fact 

 riding to hounds is out of the question, the pack 

 being followed on foot. This chapter therefore 

 will appeal more to the man who is genuinely fond 

 of hounds and hound work, than to him who 

 " hunts to ride." 



Leaving the village by way of the lane which 

 leads past Patterdale Hall, the residence of Mr. 

 W. H. Marshall, the present Master of the pack, 

 a short but somewhat steep ascent brings you into 

 view of the Ullswater kennels, lying at the lower 

 end of the wild and picturesque Grisedale valley. 

 Here from October to the middle of May are kept 

 some thirteen couples of hounds, whose business 



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