Hunting world looks forward to annual pilgrimage to Festival of Hunting

Countryside Alliance Head of Hunting Polly Portwin writes:

The hunting world looks forward to their annual pilgrimage to Peterborough for the Festival of Hunting at the East of England Showground on Wednesday, 19^th July.

The highlight for many will be a visit to the 129th Royal Peterborough Foxhound Show where packs from all the across the country will be vying to land the championship titles in both the doghound and bitch hound classes.

Last year saw the Grove and Rufford claim the doghound championship with Broker '15, who the judges described as "well-balanced and in a class of his own". The North Cotswold landed the bitch hound championship with Starburst '15, who "moved well and oozed quality".



In addition to the modern foxhound classes, there will be separate rings for the Old English foxhounds, harriers, beagles, basset hounds, draghounds and bloodhounds, as well as a terrier championship. There will also be displays of Fell hounds and coursing dogs.

The inter-hunt relay competitions – both junior and senior – are usually hotly-contested with teams vying to claim the £1,000 first prize. Last year's victorious team came from the Holcombe Hunt who also enjoyed a successful day on the flags with Daystar '14 taking the doghound title in the harriers' ring. The Avon Vale have had a lot of success in inter-hunt relay competitions over the last couple of seasons and rumour has it they have got a team at Peterborough this year so they could be the ones to watch.

There are plenty of shopping opportunities with a variety of trade stands so if you want to get a new item of clothing or hunting kit for the season ahead then this is the ideal chance to see the various options available.

The Countryside Alliance will be situated at stand 50 at the Festival of Hunting so please do visit us.

Find more event information