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

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

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

H&H’s hunting editor Catherine Austen ponders the lasting impressions that influential hunting people can make on us

Fuelled by Percy Special in the hip flask, Tessa Waugh ventures a little way south for a New Year’s Day treat of a meet, with a reassuring atmosphere straight out of the reels of Pathé film

● It had been, until that point, an ...