Stevenstone Hunt & Torrington Farmers Hunt, 10.01.26

After a week of no hunting, Stevenstone were back out on Saturday, meeting at Five Lanes Cross near Abbots Bickington. So desperate are this hunt for followers that they even invited local violent thug Anthony Hemmings back out to join them.

They did a counter-clockwise loop around Abbots Bickington, starting in the valley south of Court Barton, then via Broomball Wood towards Gardenclose Wood and finishing in the large patch of public access scrubland at Barton Cottage.

A fox was seen early on, running from hounds. Sabs were well-positioned to cover the fox’s line before hounds arrived. Deer were seen bolting in all directions as well, and shortly before the hunt finished, hounds bolted and chased a roe deer for an extended period near the meet. The terrified deer managed to escape, but not before crashing repeatedly into a barbed wire fence in panic. The whole ordeal was captured on film by our drone, while foot sabs ran in to stop the hounds. Huntsman Stephen James meanwhile was stuck on foot in the boggy scrubland and didn’t intervene. As you’ll see from our footage (to follow), this is clearly the kind of place where foxes, deer and other wildlife would lie up and not somewhere anyone could ever lay a trail, so what were the hunt doing in there in the first place? Rhetorical question.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, High Bickington, 25.01.25

Off for a spot of golf this Saturday afternoon? How would you like to spend your peaceful afternoon witnessing hounds screeching in cry tearing across the golf course you pay for, accompanied by the dull irritating sound of a huntsman’s horn blowing ringing through the trees.

Well come down to Libbaton Golf Course in High Bickington, where the Torrington Farmers Hunt were hunting foxes on Saturday 25th January!

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, Kilkhampton, 11.01.25

On Saturday 11th, the Torrington Farmers Hunt were invited on a day trip, to hunt the old Tetcott Hunt country near Kilkhampton in Northeast Cornwall. They forgot to invite us which was a bit rude, so we gate-crashed the meet and ruined their day out.

They met at a soggy old barn and first hunted the valley to the south, stopping briefly at pro-hunting farms Darracott & Aldercombe Barton. We had the usual thinly veiled threats from some of the nearly dead followers, including Jason Marles’ ex Gary Rowe, and ex Lamerton Hunt Terrierman Wayne Bartlett.

The hunt then moved onto Uppacott Farm where they spent the rest of the day hunting the valley between here and North Blatchborough. Several foxes were seen to safety, despite hounds going in and out of cry for half of the day. The other half of the day was spent watching huntsman Steve Craddock gather hounds. They packed up back at the meet at 2:30pm.

When it was clear that Craddock and his cronies had packed it in for the day, we headed to Milton Damerel, as we had received several tip-offs that the Stevenstone Hunt and their new Huntsman Stephen James (Four Burrow reject) were hunting in the area.

We arrived to see ex South Tetcott Terrierman Kian Frain boxing up his equipped quadbike at Five Lanes Cross, and soon after the rest of the hunt arrived, including Stephen James. We made sure they were leaving the area before heading home ourselves.

Thanks to our friends Plymouth & West Devon Sabs for joining us once again!

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Stevenstone Hunt & Torrington Farmers Hunt, 14.12.24

Last Saturday the dying Stevenstone Hunt met at Cloister Hall in Frithelstock. New huntsman Stephen James, who had been drafted in last minute to take over from Half-Pack Harrison, attempted to hunt foxes in the area north of the meet, owned by Chris and Serena Ham.

The new huntsman took the hounds out on foot, accompanied by 4 field riders and several terriermen on quadbikes. Sabs had the area covered and intervened at every opportunity. Tempers were flaring and the supporters’ faces began to turn a very angry shade of red. Peter Bromell rode his horse into sabs and tried to steal their cameras. Other supporters were threatening violence. Hounds also spent some time chasing a terrified sheep around a field and the hunt were quite content to let it happen.

Landowner Serena was insistent that the land was her “garden” (“how would we like it if she came trespassing in our gardens” etc.). Perhaps she thinks rebranding her agricultural fields as her garden might help her dodge the new inheritance tax requirements?

The claims about what the hunt were doing in Serena’s “garden” with a pack of hounds, quadbikes equipped with terrier boxes for digging-out etc., were pretty changeable too. One minute they were “just exercising” (“do we really look like we’re dressed for hunting?!”) and the next minute – when Stephen cast hounds into a particularly dense bit of scrub and they briefly began speaking – they had suddenly switched to “trail-hunting” (“trails have been laid and it’s all been filmed”).

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Torrington Farmers and South Tetcott Hunt, 26.11.24

Last Tuesday we took a trip down memory lane to one of the now-disbanded Tetcott Hunt’s old haunts at Marhamchurch, over the border in Cornwall. Stevenstone and South Tetcott Hunts would both quite like to add this area to their existing hunt ‘country’, and we’re aware there’s no love lost between these two hunts.

So it felt like perhaps a point was being made when the South Tetcott Hunt invited Stevenstone’s other neighbours, the Torrington Farmers, to bring their hounds down to hunt this area on Tuesday. That’s three hunts now vying for the blood of this area’s resident foxes. Not on our watch.

We were joined by a few friends from Plymouth and West Devon Hunt Sabs and Kernow Sabs, Monitors and Animal Rights Team. The meet was next to a dung heap at a little crossroads east of the village. The average age of those attending was about 70 and judging by some of their comments throughout the day, we suspect the average IQ was rather lower.

After getting their fill of port and sausage rolls, the hunt began drawing streams and hedges towards Pinch and then up towards Grove Park. Some riders had clearly had a few too many at the meet and were rightly punished by their horses for forcing them to cross flooded rivers. One rider went arse-over-tit into the water and had to be piggy-backed across the river by another rider. It was clear their horses were not comfortable being made to jump out onto the slippery banks of the river, but it’s equally clear that people who think animal cruelty is ‘sport’ are not going to particularly care about their horses either.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, Garnacott, 16.11.24

Steve Craddock and the Torrington Farmers Hunt spent another Saturday hunting foxes inside the solar farm near Alverdiscott. This time they met at Garnacott, near Huntshaw.

They left the meet around 11:30 and spent a short time in the fields east before heading towards Haddacott Moor and hunting north towards Stony Cross. Due to the huntsman’s poor hound control, after briefly casting hounds out, the majority of the day was spent gathering lost hounds, while the age-old antique hunt supporters stood around collecting dust.

From Stony Cross they went north through Bartridge and Budacombe to hunt the copse south of Marsh, west of Newton Tracey. Hounds began to speak, and foot teams were strategically positioned to intercept and watch for any foxes that might break. Sabs went in to rate hounds successfully, but found a large bonfire with around 5 dead sheep that the farmer had tried to burn. Farmers have been known to leave dead animals around to attract foxes for the hunt, but even by their standards this is truly psychotic behaviour and a disease breeding nightmare. Hounds were found causing havoc in residents’ gardens too, after being cast into the copse that stands just west of Newton Tracey village. Of course huntsman Steve Craddock was nowhere to be seen and other members of the hunt refused to intervene.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt & Eggesford Hunt, 09.11.24

On Saturday the Torrington Farmers Hunt had planned to hunt the area west of Dolton Beacon, a stone’s throw from where we sabbed Eggesford Hunt just two days prior. We say ‘planned to’ because not much hunting happened once we showed up, much to the frustration of the old boys who had come along to watch foxes being chased to their deaths.

Perhaps the hunt realised that the performative trail-laying they experimented with the other week only really works if they can actually get their hounds to take an interest in the rag, which they clearly weren’t able to last time. You’d think twenty years on from the Hunting Act they’d have at least mastered the smokescreen!

The hunt left their meet opposite the garage at Dolton Beacon and rode north along the busy A-road that goes to Beaford Moor. The moment they noticed sabs had arrived, they pulled off into a lay-by for a conflab. All the riders bar one then made their way back to their horse trailers and boxed up. Steve Craddock, his lackey Steve Burton and one rider carried on with the hounds towards Down Farm and West Villavin, trying in vain to get away from sabs. One blocking manoeuvre after another failed, as we simply passed the hunt between our various foot teams.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, Webbery Barton, 19.10.24

On Saturday morning, alongside our friends from Plymouth & West Devon Sabs, we paid a visit to the Torrington Farmers Hunt for the first time since Huntsman Steve Craddock assaulted one of our sabs a few weeks ago.

The hunt had met at Webbery Barton, near Alverdiscott at 9am, we caught up with them just as they had left the meet.

It wasn’t long before hounds were heard on a line in the wooded valley to the south of the nearby substation, as we got closer it was clear that the hounds were now scattered throughout the woods, with some even stuck behind the fencing of a nearby field of solar panels.

After trying to gather his hounds, Craddock and his new PA (ex-huntsman of the Weston and Banwell) Steve Burton, headed off leaving the remaining hounds to catch up as they moved back north. Here the hounds picked up again by a small copse, but only momentarily.

From here the hunt shot off, around the outskirts of the many solar panel fields that now envelop the area, we caught up as hounds were speaking in the valley to the south of Stony Cross.

As we approached a quadbike suddenly appeared with a rag in tow, attempting to catch up to the hounds. You would think if they’re laying the ‘trail’ they would be in front of the hounds no?

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Torrington Farmers Hunt 28.9.24

A few days after exposing the Torrington Farmers’ ties to now-convicted paedophile Andrew Webber, the Torrington Farmers’ huntsman and his assistant assaulted one of our sabs yesterday morning during their cubbing meet.

The hunt had met at Alverdiscott, on land between West Woodland and Alscott Barton. When we arrived the hunt had already unloaded their hounds and begun drawing one of the gullies on foot. Hounds were scattered and quadbikes and 4x4s were lined up either side of the gully to spot for and push back any foxes trying to escape.

We soon put a stop to that. Within 5 minutes of dropping sabs into the field and sending the drone up over the hunt, they gave up and started walking in direction of Alscott Farm, run by John and Mandy Ridd. “We’re just exercising the hounds” and “we’re hunting a trail” were muttered almost simultaneously in protestation by members of the hunt who had got up before sunrise in order to satiate their bloodlust.

Unable to get their fix, the hunt turned their anger on sabs. One of our runners was bundled to the ground by Steve Craddock and his mate, who proceeded to rip off the sab’s mask and hat as he was lying on the floor.

Sab being assaulted by Steve Craddock. Still from bodycam.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt Caught Cubbing on National Trail Hunting Day, Webbery Barton,14.09.24

Well, well, well… Even on Smokescreen Saturday, the Torrington Farmers Hunt couldn’t help themselves from sneaking in an evening cubbing meet.

We caught them on Haddacott Moor, on the edge of Alverdiscott, holding up a covert and hunting hounds on.

Fortunately, as soon as our drone went up and started filming them, huntsman, whip, quadbikes and other followers gathered for a quick huddle and then ran away back to their meet at Webbery Barton.

We also caught the Stevenstone Hunt cubbing on the edge of Stowford near Bulkworthy on Friday evening.

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