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the riPley castle shoot

riPley castle, nidd, hob Green & cayton

The Shoot covers over 7,000 acres centered around Ripley, a short distance from the Spa town of Harrogate in North
Yorkshire. It is made up of four Estates, The Ripley Castle Estate, The Nidd Beat of The Mountgarret Estate, The Hob
Green Estate, The Cayton Estate and other areas leased from neighbouring farmers. On a typical shoot day we would
normally shoot drives on more than one of the estates covered by the shoot.

Our main drives are classic, as historically, both the parkland and farmland of the estates were landscaped and woodlands
planted to produce good quality sporting birds. The mature woodlands and lakes make excellent use of the many natural
contours, which are an attractive part of the estates. The birds are well presented and are generally of a good to a very
good standard, with an increasing number of drives now being noted for producing some extremely testing birds.

Our shot to bird average is normally around 3.60.

Changes to our Shoot Days at Ripley Castle, Nidd, Hob Green and Cayton
A shoot day should be a whole day out. However due to the hard work and efficiency of our Keepers we have found,
particularly during the early season, that there has been no shortage of birds in every drive. This has given us more than
the target bag from just three to four drives. So I feel the guns have not always experienced a full days shooting. We
would have included additional smaller drives but unfortunately we had used these on our 150 bird days.

In order to make more drives available in 2015 I reluctantly decided not to field any 150 bird days. From 2016 onwards
our days will no longer be referred to as Members or Keepers Days they will be just Shoot Days. We are now providing
the same facilities, meals and refreshments on all our days. We offer a variety of days with target bags from 200 to 450
birds.

In principal at Ripley Castle we plan to shoot five or even more drives each day unless the day is affected by the weather.
On all our days no overages will be charged and as always we will aim to exceed the target bag.

Changes to Meals and Refreshments on Shoot Days at Ripley Castle, Nidd, Hob Green and Cayton
We will now meet at 8.30 a.m. on all our days for breakfast in the dining room of Ripley Castle. No longer in The Boar’s
Head or for bacon buns in the Shoot Yard. Access to Ripley Castle is through the Gatehouse and we park directly outside
the Castle. Entry to the Castle is through the main entrance. Any cars not required on the day should be parked in The
Boar’s Head car park or nearby.

In the past, up to the end of October, we took lunch around midday and these arrangements will continue. However from
early November onwards we took a brief break at midday with a late lunch in The Boar’s Head Hotel. Unfortunately I find
that more and more guns are wishing to leave before the late lunch due to a long drive home and evening commitments.
I fully respect this but do class our lunch as an important social part of the actual shoot day.

We now take lunch around midday on all our shoot days, not at the end of the day; this is provided in our Shoot Cabin.
Where a day is let to a full team the host is given the option of lunch in Ripley Castle at the end of the day or Shoot Cabin
around midday.

Birthwaite Cayton Gill

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