The Family Picnic Full Day

“The Disney World Of Shooting”

Cost from £3,500+ VAT

The Concept:

This was an idea that was born out of a full day and might be ideal for a birthday party.   Whilst the shooting is identical to our other shoots the idea is to have a lower-key picnic, which you provide, at one of our magical spots.   If the weather is less kind, you are welcome to use the pavilion or our shoot room. Parties of up to 50 have worked well in the past.

The Costs:

The cost of the afternoon shoot starts from £3,500 plus VAT equating to around £230 per head depending on the number of guests.  The afternoon is set up for 18-20 guns. This does not include cartridges.

Instructors: (Optional at £75 per instructor)

Beginners will need an instructor and novices will almost certainly get more from the day with enthusiastic guidance from one of our team. Each of our instructors can supervise two guests and beginners MUST be supervised either by an instructor or an experienced member of your team.

Gun Hire: (Optional at £50)

If you want to save your barrels or have guests without guns, we have a selection of 12 and 20 bore estate guns available for guests. Prior notice is required.

Lunch and Tea Options

We recognise that on most occasions our full day guests have come simply to shoot but if you are looking to meet beforehand and grip the social part of shooting then you may wish to consider the following lunch suggestions:

o   Full blown sumptuous lunch & bar:   This is the same as our corporate lunches and the cost is £700 which roughly equates to £35per head but includes wine, beer and all soft drinks and finishing with tea. The venue is our dedicated shoot room but rather than trying to describe this gourmet festival a compelling case for its inclusion can be seen on the home page video.

o   Pub Lunch:  Alternatively we can highly recommend the village pub lunch, being the Bell of Ramsbury. The cost is likely to be between £20-30 per head.   Details can be found HERE. Telephone for bookings is 01672 520230

o   Picnic:  You are equally welcome to bring your own picnic and use our shoot room or one of our barns as a picnic site. The latter has the advantage of a 15 mile view.

Falconry with Hawkeye: (Optional Morning at £400)

This is a truly fascinating experience!  There is so much history with respect to falconry and Alistair is one of life’s great enthusiasts and is brilliant at bringing this ancient art form to life. Alistair demonstrates these birds all across Europe but is totally passionate about private  Children, who in turn will be able to handle the birds that range from a stunning barn owl, to Merlins and then go hunting for rabbits and hares with Peregrine Falcons. The photo opportunities are a bonus!

The Drives and Format

Meet and Greet at the Shoot room: We ask guests to arrive at 2.00pm at the shoot room, which is a dedicated ‘hunting lodge’. After setting the scene and a safety briefing we will set off to the shoot. We are equally happy to run these as evening events – starting at 4.30 during the summer months.

Partridge – The Somme: This is an ideal drive for beginners being predominantly an English partridge drive. The pegs are positioned within a stunning gulley with coveys of partridge and the odd pheasant coming over a hedge. We have recently built a Network of trenches and bunkers to add a new dimension of this drive. Personal duels are inevitable within these. Seeing the top of your neighbour’s hat, their swinging barrels, the disintegration of YOUR bird and then a giggle from yonder bunker leads to one thing. Revenge!

The Grouse – ‘Ptarmigan’: Grouse is often seen as the ultimate game bird and shooting them is a completely different discipline. Grouse are lightning quick and literally hug the contours of the land. The really good shots here take them way out in front, and simultaneously can thoroughly frustrate their neighbours by shooting their birds just as they are taking aim. Thus we have built our own grouse butts in our own to compact grouse moor. Many leave thinking this is the most exciting and memorable of all our drives.

High Pheasant – ‘The Himalayas’: Our second high pheasant drive is situated at the foot of a hill and produces some moral destroying pheasants in the game season.  This is what we are trying to simulate here. Think of the great Devon shoots such as Castle Hill and then add a bit!

The Woodcock: We normally run the Woodcock drive as a mini-competition; the guns are in hides within a mature Oak wood. You will be shooting at coloured clays, being woodcock but also at Rabbits, Rats and are newest pest- the Flying Squirrel.

‘‘Tim – Your woodcock drive was special – what a wakeup call following our excellent lunch – It was clearly an honour to be elected to ‘ team captain’ and I felt I nailed my speech. Indeed I was convinced it was inspiring, even Churchillian! We set about the Woodcock and those flaming rats with passion and initially great discipline. I knew that we were being stretched when my boys started acting like Bodie and Doyle with cries of ‘I am out – Cover Me!!’ This duly gave way to laughter and shouting of ‘Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic- Mr Mannering!’, finally we descended into totally chaotic anarchy. This is the best clay drive I have ever seen – it is genius! (Letter to Tim E-C from Rupert Wiggin – Strutt & Parker)

Archery and semi-automatic Paint Ball Shooting at flying Targets: This is boys own stuff! Firstly Think of the great films such as The Last of the Mohicans, Dancing with Wolves, or the Battle of little Bighorn and how the Indians fired arrows from bare back horses at other horses at full race speed and how they pinpointed heart shots with ease – well surely part of your children’s preparation, for the big world, is being able to match that skill.

So here is the training. Teams of five or six will have a go at shooting flying large foam discs. We have to be honest this is not easy; hence we have a more up-to-date version to raise moral. Today’s youngsters will have greater affiliation to Mission impossible, Robocop or the Expendables who, of course, never miss with a gun – and hence we arm them accordingly. Here they have semi-automatic paint ball guns and that foam disc is suddenly as tempting and satisfying as Crispy Cream Dognut. The Euphoria of hitting these targets for any age, dads included, is a pure heroic moment – adrenalin rush!

Safety:

The Children’s days are by definition likely to have a lot of novices. Hence we need to make sure that this area is covered. A detailed safety briefing will be given but we insist that novices must be supervised.  In practice a Father figure or Coach can look after two, maybe even three novices.  It is best to discuss this with Tim Eliot-Cohen prior to the day. If we are shooting a genuine Fathers and Child day then there is no issue here and while Dad may be an experienced shot we have plenty of ways of leveling the playing field!