Embracing change in an ancient land

The Ballington shoot on the edge of Salisbury Plain offers classic partridge days but with one eye focused on creating a positive future for fieldsports

- JANET MENZIES

FROM Stonehenge to Army manoeuvres, Salisbury Plain has been the scene of human activity for more than 4,000 years. It has evolved through the pressures of intensive sheep farming, deforestation and military use from pre-Roman times onwards. Today, like so much of Britain’s treasured landscape, it faces the tough new challenge of competing leisure demands. Yet, turning off the A36 on to the edge of the Plain, there is a sense of peace and timelessness.

Ballington shoot aims to keep it that way. The shoot owner, Barney Stratton, believes that shooting should adapt and evolve – much as Salisbury Plain has done over the millennia. He sums it up neatly: “Everything changes, just embrace the change. Our shoot isn’t large, but we can do our bit.” The first example of this ethos in action comes as we meet at the shoot lodge, surely the most contemporary and, frankly, cool shoot room in the country. Barney explains: “We are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty here, but we wanted to build the lodge so that we and our guests didn’t have to keep crossing the A36 for lunch and meetings. The planning authority didn’t really want people putting up buildings, but there was already a barn here, so we managed to persuade them, as long as we stuck to the guidelines about converting agricultural buildings.”