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

With King Charles III as a patron, Heritage Crafts (heritagecrafts. org.uk) is a national charity set up to “celebrate, support and safeguard traditional craft skills”. Its latest Red List of Endanger

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

"Dad used to call me a feckless environmentalist,” Hugh Crossley says warmly of his father, the 3rd Baron Somerleyton. “But he was a conservationist in his own way – he’s the reason we have good hedge