A WEEK AT OAKHAM 225 



The fact is that this part of the Cottesmore would 

 be even better than it is — and the same is true of 

 the eastern side — if it were hunted more. Lord 

 Exeter, whose residence at Burleigh House has been 

 marked by an immense improvement in the sport 

 in his neighbourhood with both the Cottesmore and 

 the Fitzwilliam, is now anxious to start a pack to 

 hunt the eastern district, which, if not now exactly 

 neglected, is nevertheless inadequately hunted, both 

 for the sake of the education of the foxes and in the 

 interests of the inhabitants. It is perhaps hardly 

 necessary to say that the establishment of this pack 

 would add to the hunting attractions of both Stam- 

 ford and Oakham and would improve the sport in this 

 eastern side of the Cottesmore. 



The counter-attraction to the Cottesmore on a 

 Thursday for those who do not come into the Shires 

 to hunt over plough or through woodlands is Mr. 

 Fernie's Thursday fixture. The admirable country 

 round Keythorpe, Skeffington, Goadby and Rolles- 

 ton is well within reach on that day. Mr. Fernie's 

 hounds will certainly give a gallop. There is no 

 pack with which some good sport is more a certainty. 

 But some men prefer, when they have settled them- 

 selves in the centre of a hunting country, to follow 

 the fortunes of a single pack. The truest pleasure 

 is to be found in this. After a time we begin to 

 know some at least of the best working hounds by 

 sight. When we see these hounds leading, we know 

 that all is well. When, after a check, they feather, 

 we are sure that we are about to take up the thread 

 of the sport again. If we have an ear for hound's 

 voices, we recognise the notes of certain trusty ones 

 among them. Altogether we begin to take a close 

 and more intelligent interest in the pack of our choice, 



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