Fell Hunting
Exclusive
Owen Balding is the new huntsman at the Coniston Foxhounds Fell pack
Owen with Laura and James, and Sir Johnny Scott
Opportunities for a fell huntsman’s job in Cumbria are about as rare as rocking horse droppings. When the Coniston job came up recently, applications flooded in from all over the world. But the much coveted position has gone to northern lad Owen Balding who is just completing 13 seasons as huntsman with the North Tyne in Northumberland.
Owen’s hunting roots go back to the Glaisdale Foxhounds country in North Yorkshire where his father Ken ran a stone masonry business from a small holding. As a kid, Owen would walk or bike to the Glaisdale meets, at times playing truant on week days. The whole Balding family were keen on hunting and always took their annual holidays in the fell country, where the hunting bug truly hit Owen.
“We always went at Easter time to hunt with the (late) Blencathra huntsman Johnny Richardson (1949-88), and I came to know Barry Todhunter now huntsman (1988) who was whipper-in there at the time.
“Johnny could see I was keen, and invited me to stay with him at the huntsman’s house on nights before hunting. We’d be up before the crack of dawn for lambing call-outs from the sheep farmers losing lambs, and I loved those mornings.
A true story: “One early morning Johnny went up to the kennels, did the kennel work and he drew the hounds he wanted for that morning. He walked back to his house with his hounds and settled them outside the back door while he went inside for a cup of tea and get changed for hunting. He went back outside - and all those hounds were sat waiting for him: they’d never moved. He took them down to the hound trailer, and away they went hunting.”
Owen learn to ride as a kid on borrowed ponies around his family home at Egton Bridge near Whitby. His first job in hunting was kennel-man with the York & Ainsty (South) which are Old English Foxhounds. He says they were no slouches at hunting with the bitches being particularly sharp and hard driving.
Eight seasons at the Derwent Foxhounds near Scarborough followed as 1st whipper-in and kennel-huntsman to master and huntsman Simon Roberts (1982-94) who is now chairman of the Middleton Foxhounds.
The North Tyne are all fell-bred hounds, and Owen has stuck to the old North Tyne lines which all go back to when records began.
Owen, 47, lives with partner Rosslyn, with son James, 9, and Laura 6. He says Laura is the keenest on the hounds, especially the hound puppies in springtime. Owen has hunted quite a bit in the Coniston hunt country, and is no stranger to the terrain. The biggest difference between the two countries is the North Tyne is more than 50% hunting in forestry, whereas the Coniston is mostly open fell.
Owen concludes: “This is a big opportunity, and my aim will be to carry on the traditions of hunting a fell pack.”
Coniston joint-master Roger Westmorland, said: “We had a big response, and I think we’ve got the right lad. I’ve know him a long time, I’ve watched him hunt hounds, and we think on the same wavelength when it comes to breeding hounds and understand hunting in these mountains.
“He spent a lot of time with Johnny Richardson, and that is a big plus for me. Owen starts on the first of May and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
NB: There are only six official fell packs: Eskdale and Ennerdale, Blencathra, Melbreak, Coniston, Ullswater and the Lunesdale.
* Current Coniston huntsman Michael Nicholson is married to Helen the daughter of Coniston joint-masters Mr and Mrs Roger Westmorland who are about to retire from farming. The tenancy of the farm is therefore available for Michael and his wife as successors and they have decided to take this option and become the new tenants of the family farm near Windermere.