Miss Jorrocks writes: On Sunday 14th December hounds met at Firle Place, the guests of Viscount and Lady Gage. A field of about 40 assembled in the lane by the village and then swept up the long drive to the house behind huntsman and hounds for a very traditional meet in front of the house. The recent rain meant it was polite to stay as much as possible off the Viscount’s lawn, so we ranged ourselves along the gravel and soon Mrs Woolgar was amongst us with trays of stirrup cup and savouries. Miss Jorrocks enjoys most particularly Mrs Woolgar’s savouries as all are home made and taste truly delicious. Indeed both Miss Jorrocks and those around her felt the need to try at least one of everything! Having dwelt for a while in this timeless setting Master Clare made our thank yous to our hosts and their staff and we were off up the hill. We were two distinct fields, the jumpers with Master Clare and the non jumpers with Master Blagg who made, Miss Jorrocks learned, an amiable and kindly master leading his charges gently round. Miss Jorrocks, despite being a lady of a certain age and of a nervous disposition, spent the day up with the jumpers – much of it hard on Master Clare’s heels. Miss Jorrocks mare is perfectly capable of dealing with hunt timber with no input at all from Miss Jorrocks, which was just as well as the wind was brisk on the hills making communication between the bridge and the engine room tricky. At one point, as she hurtled down the hill feeling her face flatten as if by G force in the wind, Miss Jorrocks felt obliged to plead with her mare to go a bit slower. A plea roundly ignored as Miss Jorrocks continued to go “ooohhh” and “aaahhh” bobbling about on top as we galloped to keep up with hounds. Hounds and quarry were on excellent form and we were either up with the hounds or enjoying spectacular viewing nearly all day. Four hunts in all, the latter slightly curtailed as the quarry were showing signs of succumbing to the cold wind and steep climbs and descents required to lay their trail. Thus we finished just short of the Firle Beacon, where we came across some poor Duke of Edinburgh trainees out on an exercise who both looked despondent and miserable whilst we, on the other hand, were full of chatter and pleasure as we hacked back down the lane to the boxes. A quick wash down in a heavy shower of rain and then we all walked up to tea before trundling home Miss Jorrocks hopes to write our thank you notes. Miss Jorrocks, being a lady of a certain age, still uses the written thank you and would encourage all who hunt with us to acknowledge the kindness and hospitality of our hosts with a little note in the post. Savouries and stirrup cup don’t make themselves and many of us are complete strangers when we turn up, quite literally on the doorstep, to be fed and watered! How nice then to know, when the washing up and tidying away is all done, that one’s efforts were both appreciated and enjoyed. Should you wish to write to Viscount and Lady Gage you should address your envelope Viscount and Viscountess Gage and begin your card or letter “Dear Lord and Lady Gage”. Miss Jorrocks is so proper! See you all next week.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 20:08:49 +0000