HUNTING LOCALITIES 193 



Thursday with Lord Zetland's hounds, and on Wednes- 

 day and Friday with the Bedale, and, as a rule, will 

 have no great distance to travel to covert. On Tuesdays 

 and Saturdays Lord Zetland's can also be reached, but 

 the distances are greater, especially on Saturdays. 

 Catterick is in a pleasant rural district, and there is a 

 polo club, whose ground is the Catterick racecourse, the 

 gates of which are exactly opposite the Bridge House. 

 This tends to make the place popular, especially with 

 young hunting men, but as a matter of fact there is no 

 more sporting neighbourhood in the kingdom, and we 

 shall never forget a week's visit to the place some years 

 ago. The races were then held in the early part of the 

 week, and we arrived on Monday evening, were at the 

 races on the two following days, hunted with Lord 

 Zetland on the Thursday, and with the Bedale on the 

 Friday, finishing the week with an early morning visit 

 to the Middleham training stables on Saturday. Motors 

 had not then come into fashion, but our host drove a 

 smart team, which we had out every day, either to 

 bring a party to the races, to drive to covert, or to the 

 training stables. One wonders if there is a single 

 coach in daily use in Yorkshire, as this one was some 

 twelve or thirteen years ago. 



But from the point of view of variety Darlington and 

 Croft are undoubtedly the best hunting centres in the 

 north of England. The two places are less than four 

 miles apart, and both are on the main York and Edin- 

 burgh line, but whereas Darlington is a big town. Croft 

 — or Croft Spa, as it is properly called — is only a village, 

 and so far it has not been spoilt by the building mania. 

 It is, moreover, a pretty village, well placed on the banks 

 of the Tees, and what is more to the point, it is at the 

 right side of Darlington. And here it may be explained 

 13 



