After Christmas you may be overloaded with goodies but still missing that one thing that may have slipped through the gap or got lost on the list. We show you…
THE FIELD
Should the woodcock season change?
The woodcock is an enigmatic species revered by Shots and birders alike, and one that I have spent the majority of my career studying. There have been nights enduring pouring…
Sporting Diana: Georgie Stanford
My shooting career started not with a gun, but with a beating stick. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of a family shoot in Hampshire. the day was run…
The Field Quiz 2023
The Field Quiz 2023 Shooting 1) Who wrote the famous shooting poem that begins, “Never, never let your gun/ Pointed be at anyone”? 2) Why are plus-fours so named? 3)…
Forging damascus steel barrels – the rarest of skills
ITS SINUOUS beauty is the essence of the gunmaker’s art, although some regard it as an obsolete technology fit for nothing more than blackpowder. Damascus steel barrels are widely misunderstood…
Kick on, King Wenceslas
Where would Christmas be without hunting? Bing Crosby dreamt of a white Christmas with every Christmas card he wrote. When that card shows the traditional scene of the hunt on…
Cold houses and how to stay warm this winter
I can’t exactly claim to have been brought up in cold houses. I realise that this is a distinctly non-U admission, so I need to clarify things a little. I…
Parlour Games For Christmas
On one cerebral festive occasion in an Irish castle I was invited to join in an incomprehensible word-play game with two Oxford undergraduates, then in full command of their intellectual…
Seasons greetings – a love letter to postage stamps
One of my first memories is of helping my mother with Christmas cards. My father’s role in this endeavour extended to grumpily signing his name after an inordinate amount of…
The Goring: an excellent London stay
IT can be trying to find the right place to stay in London; too corporate, too poky, too faceless. But there is one place that seems to encourage a head…