THE YORK AND AINSTY COUNTRY. 13 



Wood and the adjoining coverts and plantations are good 

 strongholds for foxes. Hunsingore has a nice bit of country 

 round it, perhaps as easy as any in the York and 

 Ainsty hunt, and there are good coverts between that 

 place and Cattal. But the typical part of the Thursday 

 country lies farther west, beyond Knaresborough, and it is 

 the best of it too, though there is a good deal of hilly 

 ground, some strong woodlands, and a bit of moor to 

 encounter in places. It is there that a stone wall- 

 jumper is required, for in the neighbourhood of Farnham, 

 Ripley, Nidd Hall, Burnt Gates and Sawley, the walls 

 take some doing, and as they get near to Pateley 

 Bridge they are unjumpable. Burton Leonard, Bishop 

 Monkton, Copgrove, Swarcliffe Hall and Roecliff, added 

 to the places already named, make the principal fixtures 

 in this district. The country varies a good deal and 

 about Cayton, which is generally drawn from Ripley 

 Castle or Nidd Hall there is a fair quantity of grass. 

 The Sawley country, fine wild country though it is, does 

 not find much favour with the bulk of those who hunt 

 with the York and Ainsty. And much as is to be said 

 in favour of it — its picturesqueness, its wildness, and its 

 stout foxes — it must be admitted that it is not a good 

 place to get away from. The woods seem almost 

 interminable, the moors are not always the best of 

 riding, and there is a good deal of rough ground to get 

 over before one can fairly get to hounds when they do 

 go away from the woods, as they frequently do, and face 

 a good country to boot. Still, notwithstanding these 

 drawbacks, spring hunting in Sawley is very enjoyable.^ 



(i) Sawley is principally hunted in the spring, and to hunt it regularly in 

 mid season, like the low country, would be impracticable. When cubs are 

 plentiful, it is a good place for early cubbing, and may perhaps be best 

 compared to Lord Zetland's high country, which they do not hunt except in the 

 early autumn and spring. 



B 



