24 The Hunting Countries of England. 



For, though coloured down to the sea, only a com- 

 paratively small part of the Marsh is available for 

 hunting purposes. 



Again the members of the Hunt use the term woJd 

 as distinctly applying by no means to the whole of 

 this high land, but only to the very open and 

 undulating miles of arable that from Louth (the 

 northernmost point of their country proper) is 

 found right and left of the Louth-and-Horncastle- 

 road, to within three miles of the last named 

 town. 



Horncastle is quite the most central base of opera- 

 tions from which to hunt with the South Wold 

 Hounds, being near the middle of their country, 

 about four miles from the Kennels, and within easy 

 reach by road of all their meets. It is a town of 

 some 5000 inhabitants, is 130 miles from London, and 

 attainable by the Great Northern Railway in four 

 hours and a half. Hotel and stable accommodation 

 are to be found in full. 



Spilsby and Alford (on the east of the Hunt) are 

 almost exactly a similar distance from London by the 

 same line of railway. Louth is another half hour's 

 journey, is a larger town than either of the other 

 three ; and is a capital place for anyone wishing to 

 divide his hunting between the Brocklesby and the 

 South Wold. 



The kennels (which, with the hounds, are the pro- 

 perty of the Hunt) are built beside the Louth and 

 Horncastle Road, opposite the village of Bletchford; 

 and stand there in unsheltered solitude as if to remark 

 to the passer-by how bleak and lonely is this wild 



