8 The Hunting Countries of England. 



powerful but well bred ; one that can gallop through a 

 deep plough and lift you over a strong fence out of it. 

 For round Plungar, Scrimshaw^ s Mill, Bottesford, 

 Elton Manor and Staunton — also Allington Hall (all 

 about due north of the Castle) the farmers till their 

 land to the uttermost depths, and gird their fields 

 with stake-and-bounds of the strongest and with 

 ditches dug wide and deep. 



On Tuesdays and Fridays hounds are out on their 

 Lincolnshire side — west of Grantham. The best of 

 this is round Folkingham, where there is a wide 

 extent of grass and two capital gorse coverts, called 

 respectively Folkingham Gorse and Heathcote^s Gorse. 

 Other famous strongholds in these parts are the 

 Sapperton and Newton Woods, always full of foxes 

 ready to run far and run straight — and the surround- 

 ing country being strongly fenced, and carrying a 

 good scent, a bad hunter is of little use here, albeit 

 you have none of the crowd of the Leicestershire side 

 to com^Dete against. A timber jumper is a sine qua 

 non to safe conveyance, as post-and-rails are much in 

 favour for hedge-repair. With a fairly good and fast 

 hunter you may see as much sport hereabouts as any- 

 where in the Duke^s country ; for there are no rivers 

 (uor for that matter any hroohs — so you may save the 

 water jumper of your stable for elsewhere), no canals, 

 and at present no railway to hinder the progress or 

 divert a fox^s course. Lenton Village, Weaver^s 

 Lodge and Newton Bar are the most likely fixtures. 



In the southern portion of this Lincolnshire country 

 are fine large woods, which in former days swarmed 

 with foxes and were thought of in connection with 



