*** Sabs attend Game Fair as government remove restrictions on festivals * Hound forced into ring after running off in the heat ***

It wasn’t quite Download or Boomtown, but as we were able to get ourselves a couple of tickets we thought we should probably check out the famous 3-day event that is Game Fair. Held at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, just down the road from us, it’s a fair which has been going for many years and attracts a lot of people from the shooting and hunting communities, as well as others.

Camping for a few nights, as opposed to just trying to get in for a few hours, meant that not only were we less suspicious, but also got to make some friends, share a bunch of stories and overhear a lot of drunk conversations we wouldn’t otherwise be privy to on a regular day out. We missed out on the excitement of the Lapada incident which kicked off the event, a couple of vehicles of masked guys raiding the place to rob it, as we were drinking with some buddies and musing about culling squirrels. Lapada have a relatively new partnership with Game Fair (let’s see if that lasts, they didn’t seem happy) and showcase antiques, including fine art and furniture. There were a fair number of fights and arguments over the weekend to make it feel like a real summer festival.

Hounds were being shown and hunts promoted, despite the commentary explaining to the audience that the hounds’ coats are much less forgiving in the summer heat than they are when hunting over the winter. The hound pictured was still forced to be shown, however, being leashed and pulled back into the ring when they ran out. Meanwhile intel was being gathered elsewhere.

Some good pictures and recordings to go through now we’re chilling back at home. Jen* and Sam* would like to thank the fair for a great weekend and for being far easier to get into for free than any music festival, we may come again in future!

We’re already out in the fields fighting the supplementary badger culls in Gloucestershire and will be fighting the intensive culls, plus cubhunting meets, in around 4 weeks time. If you’d like to help us out financially, our link is paypal.me/threecountiessabs Funding isn’t the only way you can help us – intel, shares of posts, research and getting out there yourselves to check setts, etc all add up!