196 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



hunt, but only two days in each week would be avail- 

 able, without boxing or long road journeys, and the 

 same remark applies in a lesser degree to Richmond, 

 from which some of the Bedale meets can be reached. 



Durham is not a good hunting centre, for the best 

 country of the North Durham, which is hunted on 

 Mondays, involves a long ride to covert. On Thursday 

 hounds are usually close to the city, and on Friday the 

 South Durham are generally within reach. Nor can it 

 be claimed that Newcastle-on-Tyne is a good centre, 

 though, if the horse-box is freely used, hunting on 

 every day of the week is possible. The Tynedale, the 

 Morpeth, and the Braes of Derwent each meet within 

 seven or eight miles of the town, but each pack is then 

 at the end of its country, and any one who rides to the 

 nearest meets from Newcastle might easily have double 

 the distance to travel on his homeward journey. Still 

 an industrious man can hunt three days a week — one 

 with each of the packs named — from Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne without using a horse-box. 



As a matter of fact there is no convenient centre for 

 the Tynedale hounds, except quite a small village 

 named Stamfordham, and here the accommodation is 

 exceedingly limited. There is plenty of stabling (but 

 all this is requisitioned by hunting people who live 

 wide of the best part of the country), and there is no 

 hotel — only one or two public-houses of the ordinary 

 village type. Whalton, some ten miles north-west, is 

 more of a residential village, and here it is possible 

 to get the best of the Tynedale and the best of the 

 Morpeth countries. Indeed, Whalton is a really good 

 centre, for it is placed in a big grass country, and is well 

 away from all population and industrialism. Its draw- 

 back is that it is not very easy of access, the nearest 



