Festival of Hounds

The rural community were out in force to celebrate the traditions of hound breeding with 23 packs of Modern Foxhounds and 12 packs of Old English Foxhounds from the United Kingdom’s most prominent packs as the headline Modern and Old English Foxhound show of the summer season, ‘Peterborough’ returned for its 136th outing alongside the Festival of Hounds, which also hosts classes for Beagles, Harriers and Basset Hounds, on Wednesday 17th July.

In the Modern ring, dog hound judges S U Lambert Esq., MFH, and A D Osborne Esq., tipped the Duke of Beaufort’s ‘Pollard’ as Best Stallion Hound, before giving the nod to the Vale of the White Horse (VWH) ‘Soldier’ as Champion Dog Hound.

To the afternoon and J P G Andrews Esq., and H T L Gosling Esq., MFH picked out Bicester with Whaddon Chase ‘Grandma’, who had been part of the 1st prize winning Best Two Couple of Entered Hounds class.

In the Old English ring, W R Bryer Esq., and J Townsend Esq., selected Belvoir (Duke of Rutland’s) ‘Plungar’ as Champion Dog Hound, a winning return for the Hunt who last showed at Peterborough in 2009. In the afternoon, North Staffordshire ‘Cheeky’ was tipped as Champion Bitch Hound.

The Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show continues to welcome visitors from across the world, from the USA to the Peshawar Vale (Pakistan) and Foxhound packs from across the breadth of the United Kingdom including the Zetland, who celebrated their first red ribbon in 20 years at ‘Peterborough’ to great excitement with 1st place for ‘Aslan’ and ‘Astor’ in the Best Couple of Entered Hounds.

Away from the foxhounds, the Festival of Hounds, supported by key sponsor the Countryside Alliance, is one of the largest shows of working scent hounds anywhere in the world, with huge support around the ring for Beagles, Harriers, and Basset Hounds. In the Beagles ring the Best in Show went to Dummer ‘Petal’ 2022 the breed’s Champion Bitch Hound, whilst the Champion Dog Hound was tipped to Downland Pevensey Marsh ‘Verdict’ 2018.

In the Stud Book Harriers, Holcombe stole the show with Best in Show awarded to their Champion Dog Hound, Holcombe Ross ‘Holcot’ 2018, ahead of their Champion Bitch Hound Holcombe Ross ‘Hopeful’ 2018.

Four Shire’s Basset Hounds had a successful day, taking home the Champion Bitch title with Four Shire’s ‘Penguin’, who went on to be Supreme Champion ahead of her kennel mate Four Shire’s ‘Padlock’, who took the Champion Dog and the Reserve Supreme titles.

Visitors to the show were able to see a superb variety of breeds in the Sight Hound Parade organised by Liz Mort. We also welcomed the Cranwell Bloodhounds and Four Shires Bloodhounds, with both packs bringing three couple to showcase yet another hound breed to interested visitors.

The Festival of Hounds puts the hunting community at its heart and is delighted to be home to the popular Young Handler Class, which returns for a fifth year and is supported by the Hunt Staff Benefit Society. The entries were welcomed into the ring to be judged by Mrs G Wade. The popular next generation class was founded to acknowledge and celebrate the huge number of young people supporting hunt kennels nationwide, and this year was Annabelle Shaw, 15, from the Barlow, who was awarded the perpetual trophy, the Captain Farquhar Cup, along with a hunting horn donated from Hunting UK and presented by Mrs A Ersting in memory of Mr James Barclay, and goody bags from the Hunt Staff Benefit Society and the Countryside Alliance.

Amateur junior whip at the Barlow Hunt, Annabelle said: “Helping out in kennels brings me so much joy and it means everything to me to win this competition. I go to kennels every night and do whatever job is needed of me – I want to go on to be a lady huntsman.”

Across the showground, you couldn’t ignore the cheers of excitement from the Inter -Hunt Relay, where 24 junior teams competed in the it’s a knockout-style relay competition to find out the most skilful team of four. Sponsored by Honri Hats, the Belvoir fought off tight competition to take the silverware on their fourth year of asking. The team was made up of Molly Starmer, Freya Kime, Morvah Luke and Ava Lambert.

Earlier in the day, eight senior teams thrashed it out with the senior title going to the Quorn, comprising Timmy Seaton, Phili Shepard, Izzy Nowiki and Oliver Woodland.

After an exultant morning in the Inter-Hunt Relay ring, the Quorn headed back to the hunt lorry park where their day got even better, taking the first prize Stirrup Cup basket of port for their opening meet in the coveted Hunt Picnic Competition. The judging panel this year comprised Alexandra Henton (The Field editor), Jenny Jefferies (local award winning food writer), Octavia Pollock (chief sub-editor at Country Life) and Sarah Fitzpatrick (features editor at The Field).

Headed up by Mrs Jane Winterton, the Quorn picnic was commended by the judges for its impeccable attention to detail, local provenance of the food, and the way they prioritised working with farmers across the Quorn country to put a delicious spread together.

Mrs Winterton said: “It is lovely to have our community come together like this, to share our different skills and local produce. Farmers are such an important part of our hunting community, and many of them have very kindly donated their produce for today. We are delighted to win!”

Praise for the locally sourced offerings at the Quorn table was high indeed, with Octavia Pollock commenting: “ I was blown away by the imagination, care and sheer skill that had gone into creating the feast that was the Quorn hunt picnic. Not only was everything delicious, but each element was connected to the hunt country, showcasing farmers’ produce and local specialties, from the plum sparkling wine to the Tally-Ho Pie and the lemon-meringue roulade with farm-fresh eggs. The crest pinned to the marquee, the relevant Baily’s Hunting Directory and first-edition hunt history created a fine display, crowned with the exquisite, hand-painted menu by Jane Winterton that explained where each ingredient came from and who created each delicious element.

“In all, the picnic epitomised the interwoven hunt community, linking landowners, hunt followers, cooks and farmers in a celebration of rural life. I could have feasted all day!”

Jenny Jefferies said: “This competition showcases the unique and inextricably linked farming and hunting communities through their love of food and respect for each other”.

Highly commended went to the Berkeley for their outstanding sausage rolls and hound-decorated brownies.

Spilling out into the last of the day’s sunshine, crowds made their usual pilgrimage to the hunt bar after classes, whilst the ‘local larder’ food and drink court was on hand to refuel the crowds during the day . The ample retail stalls were popular too – from breeches to stunning artwork, many shoppers also took the opportunity to take home a local pie or bottle of gin to continue the festivities.

Alison Queenborough, Secretary of The Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show Society, said: “We look forward to welcoming you all back to the 137th Peterborough Royal Foxhound Society Show and Festival of Hounds on Wednesday 16th July 2025 as the event goes from strength to strength.”

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All press enquiries should contact amy@artheyassociates.co.uk or 07858 656444.
All photos credit Tim Scrivener, East of England Agricultural Society, Tess Cadman, Richard Crowhurst, Karen Davison-White as specified.