Folkington Manor Farm 28th November 2010
(Photos to follow)
A smaller group of Working Section members, and their hounds, met at Folkington Manor Farm near Polgate, East Sussex with the kind permission of Charles Harcourt-Smith on 28th November 2010. With the land silvered by frost as we set off it was a surprise to find a fair covering of snow on the Downs and for some of the young pups it was the first snow they had seen. We were able to run all 20 hounds on the first field although 50% of our workers, Indy and Magic Beaney, were a little distracted as their owner Adam had laid the line. We moved on up to the next field which was fairly steep and we split the beagles into 2 groups. It was great to see the brightly coloured coats against the snow as the hounds followed the line. Luckily they didn’t get distracted by the fox that had crossed the field 10 minutes earlier. Rosie McDonald was on fine form, showing her housemate, Dottie, how it should be done. There was a fair walk through the estate, passing a typical Downland church, to the next set of fields that were nestled at the base of the Downs. We paused to allow a family to finish sledging before laying the next line on the steep sides of the valley. There was a little confusion with the second group as the line was laid adjacent to a holding pen and Magic led a group the wrong side of the fence but soon showed the others the way back to the line. Our veteran worker, Riot McSheehy, showed everybody how the line went when we moved onto a field of turnips although many of his group cut a couple of corners. With the snow lying on the foliage it was easy for the humans to see where the line had been laid and also to see if the hounds where following it closely. Lily McBain, who won the Flag completion at the Beagle Club Barbeque in July, was showing some promising consistency as the morning wore on. Moving down the valley Buster Forbes decided that not having his treat at the end of the line was a small price to pay for getting the chance for a good sniff in the hedgerow. The final line of the day was the most successful with our newest member Sunny Barling getting the hang of it and also Louis Haylock running well. It was odd to see one of our honorary beagles, Rodney Beanie the collie, streaking ahead of the beagles but still following the line. The walk back to the cars was very picturesque with a pack of tired but happy hounds and their owners thinking about a well earned lunch at the Sussex Ox.