THE TYNEDALE COUNTRY. 151 



to produce any amount of sport. Tlae country round thecm is 

 neax'ly all grass, with oocasdonal rough fields where some 

 heather grows, and if foxes are sometimes rather inclined to 

 ring the ohangeis between these particular coverts, the planta- 

 tions are so far apart that any amount of fun can be had. 

 Indeed, I recollect a Beaufront day, within the last ten years, 

 v.'hen hounds were running almost continuously for over four 

 hours without eiver going over the military road to the north 

 or over the Watling Street to the east. They were — I think — 

 as far west as Fallowfield, but fox after fox ran a big ring 

 within the limits I have described, and though no great point 

 could be made in such an area, the day was one of the best 

 of that season. But from Butler's "Whin and Stanley Wood — 

 which lie on the south side of the military road — foxes perhaps 

 most frequently go north, and there they have before them 

 the wide expanse of the Tynedale Monday country. A favourite 

 meet for the mosti southern part of the North Tyne valley, 

 and also for some of the coverts which have just been men- 

 tioned, is St. Oswalds, a tiny hamlet on the military road, 

 about one mile east of the bridge over the North Tyne at 

 Chollerford, and with several good coverts exceedingly handy. 

 To th€ south are Fallowfield and Brunton Banks, while Fern 

 Hill and Butler's Whin are barely a mile away, and slightly 

 to the north and quite close to the place of meeting is Way 

 Wood, a singularly foxy place, in spite of the fact that there 

 are large and important stone quarries at its eastern end. 

 From Way Wood numberless good runs have come, and I 

 believe it was from this covert that hounds ran to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Stamfordham in a, high gale a few years ago. 

 Hounds were going down wind all the way, and made a point 

 of nine or ten miles, and a curious result of the hunti — it was 

 said — was that on the following Sunday various farm labourers 

 went to church at Matfen or Stamfordham wearing compara- 

 tively new and fashionable tall hats. 



Of the coverts in the more northern part of the North Tyne 

 valley I have not had enough experience to write with con- 

 fidence, but if hounds are on the lefti bank of the river they 

 are always quito close to the open Monday country, and may 

 (and frequently do) go ever the best of it. If I were resident 

 in the Tynedale I should try to keep all the Wednesday 



