JOHN W^IDBORNE 181 



man, and drafts were procured from the Oakley 

 and other packs. All this took time, and the season 

 was fairly well advanced before a beginning could 

 be made. The pack was called " Mr. Whidborne's 

 Hounds " during his first two seasons, as the title 

 " South Devon " had then already been adopted by 

 the pack on the Haldon side. 



Mr. Whidborne, with his daughter, Miss Whid- 

 borne, took up his residence for the season at his 

 cottage, " Brookside," Kingsteignton, which he had 

 used for many years as a hunting-box, renting the 

 farmyard across the road for additional stabling. 

 Here he kept his own and some of the hunt horses, 

 the remainder being at his home, Gorway, at Teign- 

 mouth. This arrangement, with the kennels at 

 Lidwell, as stated, a matter of five miles outside 

 Whidborne's country, was an inconvenient one, and 

 entailed much hard work, besides requiring more 

 horses than would have been necessary if kennels 

 and master's residence had been more centrally 

 situated. At one time Mr. Whidborne kept seventeen 

 horses, but these included a pair of carriage horses 

 and his own hunters, besides those of Miss Whidborne 

 and her groom. As the stable accommodation at 

 Gorway and Brookside was insufficient, a range of 

 wooden boxes was erected in a garden opposite the 

 stable entrance to Gorway. I have known Whitmore 

 leave his home on Brook Hill, in Teignmouth, at one 

 o'clock in the morning to reach Spitchwick at five 

 for cubhunting. He had first to walk half a mile to 

 Gorway for his hack, ride two miles to Lidwell for 

 his hounds, thence another four miles to Kings- 

 teignton, where he changed on to his hunter, ulti- 

 mately reaching Spitchwick when, as he used to put 

 it, it was " just light enough to see the rabbit holes." 



