Countryside Alliance heads to Ardingly!

The first of the season's feature hound shows takes place on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th June at the South of England Hound Show at Ardingly, West Sussex. The hound show is an integral part of the South of England Agricultural Show which takes place over three days, moving to Friday until Sunday for the first time this year, rather than the usual Thursday until Saturday.

Friday, the opening day of the hound show, features the foxhound classes with Capt. Ian Farquhar and Felicita Busby MFH judging the doghounds. The new chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA), Andrew Osborne, will be choosing the winners of the bitch hound classes with Adam Waugh MFH.

Saturday is beagles day with Richard Tyacke, director of the Association of Masters of Harriers & Beagles (AMHB) judging the doghounds alongside S Roscoe MH, while the chairman of the Countryside Alliance, Lord Herbert, will be selecting the prize winners in the bitch hound classes along with James Barclay, chairman of This is Hunting UK.

As was the case with the majority of events last year, the hound show was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. All visitors to the showground will be complying with any Covid regulations put in place, however the focus of each day will be on the hounds themselves with Masters, hound breeders, hunt staff and other hound aficionados, as well as members of the public, keen to see hounds returning to the flagstones once again.

The Countryside Alliance is delighted to be one of the sponsors of the hound show and looks forward to bringing you news throughout the course of the hound show via our social media channels.

Polly Portwin, Director of the Campaign for Hunting praised those who had enabled the show to go ahead: "All those able to enjoy the hound show, either as a competitor, judge or spectator, owe a huge debt of gratitude to the hound show committee, under the chairmanship of Gary Lee, who have worked tirelessly to ensure judging could go ahead and we look forward to seeing which hounds land the championships."

Unsurprisingly, the arrangements for the show have been moderated slightly this year to comply with government restrictions so there won't be a grandstand or any seating around the John Robson Ring, with visitors encouraged to bring a shooting stick or their own foldout chair.

Further details about the show are available here.