As winter relinquishes its grip, Tessa Waugh enjoys a copybook meet, with convivial chat, springy turf and good sport – while the real hunting aficionados demonstrate their teleporting skills

The relentlessly positive spirit of the VWH hounds and their huntsman is infectious during a good day’s sport

I’m awake. Very awake. It’s early on a wind-whipped Sunday morning and I’m neck-deep in the sea off the Isle of Man’s north-east coast. The rain is steady, the swell is heavy and the water is gaspindu

We leafed through the well-thumbed pages of our atlas until North Wales stopped us in our tracks. Anglesey felt like a place apart. A few weeks later, we found ourselves waist-high in prickly gorse, s

With 36 years in hunt service behind him, Robert McCarthy is one of the country’s most senior and most respected huntsmen. He talks to Tessa Waugh about Crufts, the current situation and life in Northumberland

From ancient stones to timeless biker hospitality, Saff rides north to taste the true spirit of Orkney