A WAR of words has erupted after homeowners accused members of the Cheshire Forest Hunt of crossing their land and tearing up their garden. Debbie and Mark Langford, of Manor House, Congleton, are furious that members of the hunt went on to their land after they denied them access. They claim when they asked members of the hunt to leave their property, they were told they were “city folk” who did not understand the ways of the countryside.

Mrs Langford said they had been approached on several occasions by the hunt to ask if they could cross their land. She said: “We’ve always said no and last time we specifically told them if they came on to our property, we would take photographs or video them so we could prosecute. We were asked again last week and again we told them no and yet between half past one and two o’clock on Saturday, hundreds of hounds came spilling past our kitchen window.

“My children were frightened and my cats and dog were terrified. I was absolutely livid.” She said her husband, Mark, a solicitor, followed the hunt and told them to keep away from their property. She said: “He told them it was private land and around 15 of them surrounded him. One said he deserved a ‘jolly good hiding’ and that we were just ‘city folk’ who had come out here and had loads of money.”

Mother-of-two, Mrs Langford said her husband was shaken when he returned home. She added that he had told the hunt members that he had their number plates and would sue them for trespassing. She said: “With the dogs and the horses trampling everywhere, the garden was in a terrible mess. We’ve told the police and we want to press charges. “They won’t listen. We’ve told them again and again that we don’t want them on our land. They called us city folk and yet we’re both from the country. We own 40 acres of land right in the middle of where they want to hunt and they don’t like it. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’m tired of it.”

A Cheshire Police spokesman said they had received a complaint from the Langfords. He said: “We are investigating the matter and it has been referred to one of our rural officers.” It is not the first time the Cheshire Forest Hunt has been involved in controversy. In 1996, they passed through the nature reserve in Duttons Hollow, Northwich, which is only open to invited guests to preserve the vulnerable mammal population. The British Field Sports Society, representing the Cheshire Forest fox-hounds admitted using a pathway through the reserve, but said they did not hunt in the reserve.

Published in the Cheshire Daily Post, 7th December 1999, by Alex Williams