A sporting estate is on the top of most people’s wish list. Tradition dictated that once a pile had been made in the city you would retire to a pile of matching substance with all the right accompaniments. And today, an estate with a spot of fishing, a lawn meet and a decent shoot remain the sporting Holy Trinity. (Read: the perfect sporting estate.)But as those who have tried to find the perfect sporting estate know, such elysian fields are much sought after. If the ideal estate if proving elusive at the moment, cast your eye over our list. There is something for everyone; grouse shooting on Gunnerside, hunting in the West Country and sporting birds in the Home Counties.

If you have a sporting estate that makes the grade then let us know.

What are the hallmarks of a great sporting estate? Britain’s top agents have shared their knowledge and helped The Field compile the list of the best. And if you find yourself on the receiving end of an invitation from one of these greats count yourself very lucky.

BEST SPORTING ESTATES

 

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Ardverikie, Inverness-shire
A shimmering Highland estate and a lead role in the BBC’s Monarch of the Glen might attract uninvited visitors but they can’t reach you on the other side of Loch Laggan and the midges are mighty effective bouncers. Fishing on the loch and stalking across 45,000 acres of deer forests. The Baronial-style house sits on a promontory overlooking King Fergus’s Island. Queen Victoria liked it.

 

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Ashcombe, Wiltshire
Ashcombe’s 1,100 unspoilt acres across chalk valleys with steep contours present high, testing partridges and pheasants as part of an outstanding, well-managed shoot. There is a lovely Georgian house and an orangery for lunches. Film maker and owner Guy Ritchie says of Ashcombe: “It has something very mystical about it…in the summertime it’s the most beautiful place in the world.”
The Scottish home of the Royal Family beneath Lochnagar in Royal Deeside, with the granite castle and its sporting lands not expected on the market any time soon. Heather-clad hills, ancient Caledonian woodland and the River Dee weave over 50,000 acres. There is grouse-shooting at Corgarff and stalking in the forests. Balmoral chatters with the noise of silence, with the water running from the burns.

Barningham and Holgate, North Yorkshire
Like a bit of everything? This estate, on the edge of the Dales, has trout fishing, wildfowling, a pheasant-shoot and a productive two-day grouse moor. Throw in English partridges, duck- and goose-flighting, roe-stalking and a Grade 11* listed house. Listen to the singing; proof that moorland well managed for red grouse can produce an infinite variety of birds.

Bereleigh, Hampshire
Owned by the Tyrwhitt-Drake family, this 2,500 acre estate with its largely Georgian house provides one of the county’s best shoots, with great woods. The terrain is more down-land Sussex than Hampshire, creating challenging high birds.

Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
A 30,000-acre sporting playground on the banks of the Wharfe, with 13,500 acres of moorland. High pheasants and quick grouse sate the shooting appetite and for anglers there are brown trout and grayling to be had on the fly. Take food and shelter in the estate’s splendid Devonshire Arms, with a wine list Bacchus compiled. Play cricket, too. But beware the ghost of Fred Trueman telling you to “Pitch it up lad.”

Brimpsfield Park, Gloucestershire
High pheasants and partridges fly over the roof of the Cotswolds. Steep valleys and woods are the ingredients for a shoot transformed by the Larthe family over the past 25 years. The mellow stone house has had a refurbishment, too. The property gets a mention in the Domesday Book but with no explanation as to how one of its drives came to be called The Fat Controller, although the sausage rolls are legendary.

Broadlands, Hampshire
History in every Hampshire pore. Once the seat of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, now home to Lord Brabourne. Fly fishermen ask to be baptised in the Test, such is its nobility among chalkstreams, with brown and sea-trout and salmon.. Royalty and statesmen decorate the honours board.

Castle Hill, Devon
Some think it is the greatest pheasant-shooting in the world. The highest of pheasants in the deepest of Devon valleys over thousands of acres make it difficult to beat, with brown trout, sea-trout and salmon on the Bray. The house is special, too.

Chatsworth, Derbyshire
If you like estates big, as in 35,000 acres, then Chatsworth is your quarry. You have the pheasant-shoot, a trout stream on the Wye, parkland and stable blocks. It is the heart of the Peak District National Park and most of its lung, too. There is moorland and woodland, with a rare collection of ancient oaks. Chatsworth House, across the Derwent, puts the stately into home and has a few spare rooms for sporting guests.

Conholt, Hampshire
The lovely house sits in a park and the estate runs one of the finest shoots in the south of England. Wildlife and conservation is at its core, with a third of the estate woodland. There are valleys at Conholt where no machine has been allowed to venture. The guns move around on foot and the game cart is pulled by a horse, with damson gin in the saddlebag. An estate with magic in the mahonias.

Corrour, Inverness-shire
Can somewhere so remote still exist in this day and age?  The lodge is a thoroughly modern castle with views over the loch. More than 50,000 acres to play in. Go stalking on the hill and get distracted by golden eagles, or try some trout fishing. This is sporting estate meets natural wilderness. It also produces its own venison.

Delfur, Speyside
A fly-fisherman’s dream and one for the purist – and that’s before you take the whisky trail and pay homage to the glens of Fiddich and Livet. The lodge sits on the banks of the Spey and you get to catch an Atlantic salmon on the finest fly water. An unbeatable and challenging beat on a top performing Scottish river. There is also high- and low ground shooting.

Drumlanrig, Dumfriesshire
A Buccleuch estate with pheasants and partridges, salmon on the Nith, trout in the lochs, driven grouse, roe- and wild-goat stalking and a castle. “I grew up at Drumlanrig, shooting pigeon, ferreting, sea-trout fishing at night, beating on the smart days. Then I had my first chance at driven grouse and pheasants. Part of my shooting soul will always be there,” says Jonathan Kennedy of CKD Kennedy Macpherson.

Elveden, Norfolk
Ownership passed from the Singhs – 846 partridges shot before lunch on a September day in 1895 – to a brewing dynasty. Curry and Guinness – sounds like a night out after the rugby. The idea for a Guinness Book of Records came from a shooting party in Ireland in 1951 when guns argued about the relative speeds of golden plover and grouse. Fine shooting and lavish parties. Is there a toucan in the gamebook?

Faccombe, Hampshire
Does not usually get this good so close to the capital. This is renowned and testing pheasant- and partridge-shooing on a very well run estate. The rolling valleys provide for roe- and fallow-stalking. A beautiful house is concealed behind a high wall.

Fonthill, Wiltshire
A 10,000-acre estate with a large lake in a lovely landscape. Plenty of woodland, as well as farmland and gardens. The main house, built in the Sixties, is a far subtler creation than the old abbey, a neo-Gothic shocker, which eventually collapsed – hoist with its own façade.

Garrowby, North Yorkshire
Partridge- and pheasant-shooting in the Yorkshire premier league – deep, wide valleys and hanging woods are the top-ography of top sport on this 13,500-acre estate. Even the hall started life as a shooting box. Garrowby Hill is the highest point on the Yorkshire Wolds. If you swing an invitation here make sure you know your nags, for this is racing country. Actually, if you swing an invitation, you’re incredibly lucky.

Glenfeshie, Inverness-shire
Glenfeshie is 45,000 acres of the Cairngorms, a landscape of vast natural wares, including ancient Caledonian pine forest. If you want remote grandeur and your own private kingdom, trek here. This is wild beauty married to great sport. Take your painting oils as well as gun oil. Glenfeshie was the backdrop to Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen.

Gunnerside, North Yorkshire
If grouse-shooting were an Olympic sport this would be the venue for 2012. Half-marathons have been run in the time some drives last on this trophy estate of more than 30,000 acres. It has been described as a Highland estate in England. The shooting is exhilarating across a breadth of moors and the lowground shooting is worth texting home about – if you can get reception. A mighty fine lodge, too.

Hawnby, North Yorkshire
Another prized Yorkshire pheasant-shooting invitation, the deep, sheer valleys challenge the finest shots. Besides the pheasant-shoot there is a grouse moor, which can produce at least a day’s driving and an island moor giving an excellent “walked-up” day. Arden Hall dates back to the 17th century and has lovely gardens. This estate has demonstrated award-winning excellence in woodland management.

Holkham, Norfolk

A wild-bird shoot and the pride of Norfolk across 25,000 acres. Wildfowling to die for and excellent driven game-shooting, with the keepers resplendent in bowler hats. A Palladian hall and a range of brick-and-flint cottages and Georgian farmhouses make up a considerable portfolio. The estate’s beach is a National Nature Reserve, and Lord Nelson had both eyes open when he explored this stretch of coast.

Houghton Hall, Norfolk

An historic Palladian mansion, grand parkland and a restored five-acre walled garden, Houghton also has its own private army. Well, a remarkable toy soldier collection any-way. Plenty of wild grey partridges on its rolling acres – challenging birds and a noble tradition. There is stalking, too. Houghton Hall was built in the 1720s by Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister and the 4,000-acre estate is the seat of the Marquess of Cholmondeley.

Islay, Western Isles
Sport as varied as the landscapes and as numerous as the distilleries. Brown and sea-trout fishing in the lochs, as well as salmon and sea-fishing and stalking. “Islay stags average over 18 stone and have heads like Christmas trees. There is the occasional grouse to give pointers a purpose and the chance of a Macnab. But the wildfowl and woodcock is the real secret of Islay,” says Robert McCulloch of Strutt & Parker.

Llanarmon, Denbighshire
This is a topside of rare Welsh sporting beef in the Ceiriog valley. Neck braces are worn here not after a tough afternoon in a rugby scrum, but after straining to see the highest pheasants. Go on, pronounce and spell the drives. Head for the West Arms, shooting hospitality at is finest, and you can taste that topside of beef.

Loch Choire, Sutherland
A mere 35,000 acres of breathtaking Highlands wilderness, largely made up of two deer forests either side of a three-mile loch. The lodge sits at the head of Loch Choire. The Mallet flows into the loch. Salmon and trout and fine red deer-stalking, with some grouse and ptarmigan on the top.

Melbury, Dorset
Park, woodland, farm and a stunning Grade I listed late-17th century house.

Mertoun, Roxburghshire
Languid stretches of Tweed to fish, with high cliffs and deep pools. The house, overlooking the river, has been lovingly restored; I am told by an insider that the entrance hall is 16ft high, so no need to take down your 15ft salmon rod. The river acts as a sublime backdrop to the pheasant- and partridge-shooting. There is excellent roe-stalking, too.

Millden, Angus
“As a grouse moor Millden stands supreme… Better-broken dogs were never seen on a moor,” wrote top Edwardian shot AE Gathorne-Hardy. It continues to inspire awe. In the heart of Glen Esk.

Muggleswick, Co Durham
Sportsmen who meet a genie ask for three things: a great grouse moor to call their own, to be hailed as a great shot and to be a wizard fly fisherman. The fourth would be personal wealth. Meet Jeremy Herrmann, master of Muggleswick and, indeed, East Allenheads, who rubbed the right bottle. Herrmann even called a hedge fund after a predatory trout.

Newton Ferrers, East Cornwall
One for the romantics , tucked away in the hidden valleys of south-west Devon. This was a labour of love, started in 1994 by Andrew and Darcie Baylis. They restored the 17th- century manor house, revived a shoot dormant since the 1880s and cleared choked river-banks. “Shooting high birds amid ancient hardwoods and salmon fishing on the Lynher is any man’s dream of a perfect world,” according to Crispin Holborow of Savills.

Powderham Castle, Devon

If you leave Burgundy, as the family did in the 12th century, it has to be for somewhere special. Powderham Castle remains the seat of the Earl of Devon and what a 3,500-acre armchair it is. The pheasants and partridges are high and fast, the gin sloe, as was Timothy the tortoise which lived to 160. The architecture of the 14th-century castle is as rich as its tales.