Horse_amp_amp_Hound__06_February_2018

HUNTING
BEDALE
13 January
dited by Catherine Austen
atherine.austen@timeinc.com
@cfausten
Mixing business
Known as much for its hospitality as its challenging country, it’s clear that
when it comes to the riding, the popular Bedale don’t mess about
Bedale, Rookwith Farm,
North Yorkshire
IT only takes two hours to get
to North Yorkshire from home,
but when I arrived at Rookwith
Farm near Bedale, I felt as if I had
arrived in a parallel universe.
People from all over the north
had converged on the popular
meet at Ed (one of the jointmasters)
and Chloe Page’s farm,
and the day was getting off to a
great start at a lavish pre-meet in
their kitchen. At 10am, the place
was crammed with immaculately
made-up ladies and rosy-cheeked
By TESSA WAUGH
men in hunting kit and an island
groaning with booze. Joint-master
and huntsman Tim Coulson was
there, looking fresh-faced for a
40-year-old, and secretary Nick
Thomas handed me a large glass
of sloe gin and introduced me
to Chloe Page and joint-master
Jo Lambert — both glamorous
blondes. Outside in the Pages’
yard, it was wall-to-wall lorries —
no trailers or battered pick-ups
— with some pretty special horse
flesh emerging down the ramps.
I think I’ve lived in the hills too
long. I felt like Eddie Grundy from
The Archers landing on the pages
of Hello! magazine.
I had a hireling for the day
from Jacqueline Coward, which
her mother, Cherry, had kindly
brought all the way from the
Middleton country. The sight of
the big, handsome thoroughbred
Phoenix went some way to
soothing my nerves.
“Don’t try to ride him like an
eventer,” Cherry warned. “Just
remember to kick going into the
fences. As long as you kick, you’ll
be fine.”
By this stage, Tim and his
hounds and more than 100 people
on horses had assembled in the
field opposite the farmhouse.
The Pages’ son, three-year-old
Max, was also there on his pony.
Seeing the members of this large
field sitting confidently on their
smart horses, it was abundantly
clear that when it comes to the
riding side of things, this lot mean
serious business.
Subscriber Laura Jennings was
there on a nice bay with her friend
Clara Nicholl from the Haydon
and two other Haydonites. Clara
joked that disentangling herself
Bedale joint-master and huntsman
Tim Coulson, who is standing down
at the end of the season
Bedale joint-master and meet
host Ed Page gives the field
a great lead over a hedge
42 Horse & Hound 8 February 2018