HUNTING LOCALITIES 173 



are four-days-a-week packs, with countries which are 

 large in area, but the two last named have far less 

 woodland than the Hertfordshire, and the Puckeridge 

 is one of the most open countries in the kingdom, 

 especi,ally on its northern side. 



Fields are very large at times with both packs, and 

 Bishop's Stortford is probably the best centre, as from 

 this place an industrious man can hunt every day in the 

 week with either the Puckeridge or the Essex. The 

 town first named is within Puckeridge limits, but some 

 of the nearest coverts are neutral to the two hunts, not- 

 ably Takeley Forest, the finest cub-hunting ground we 

 ever saw. Of plough countries the Essex and Puckeridge 

 are generally considered to be the best in the kingdom, 

 and it may be mentioned that during the autumn the 

 stubbles afford grand galloping, and, naturally enough, 

 with so much arable land in the district much of it cannot 

 be ploughed until quite late in the season. Londoners 

 form the bulk of the field with both packs, but they 

 are Londoners who reside in either of the countries. 



The Essex Union is also a four-days-a-week pack, 

 with a country which is being rapidly acquired by 

 the builder in some districts, and is remarkably 

 wild in others. It contains rather more grass than 

 its neighbours, and has good scenting land on the 

 extreme east, nearest the sea, but the biggest fields 

 are to be found on the Chelmsford side of the country, 

 where many of the hunting residents divide their 

 favours between this pack and the Essex, some of 

 them occasionally going to the East Essex as well. 

 The pack just named is hardly a metropolitan one, 

 a remark which also applies to the Essex and Suffolk, 

 the Suffolk, the Cambridgeshire, and the Newmarket 

 and Thurlow. Nor are any of the countries good enough 



