Shooting
A Shooting Estate
Swinton Estate in the Yorkshire Dales offer some of the most extensive shooting in the UK, with 20,000 acres of woodlands and valleys that stretch from the River Ure in Wensleydale up onto the moorland Dales.
The Cunliffe-Lister family acquired Swinton Estate in the 1880s. At the time Swinton was one of two premier sporting estates for sale, the other being Sandringham. The story goes that the Royal Family (after inspecting Swinton) decided that the pheasants were too high and plumped for Sandringham instead. Since then the excellent sport and hospitality at Swinton has been legendary and has attracted a great range of people from former British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Harold Macmillan, to American singer and actor Bing Crosby and even other European royals.
The Estate offers a beautiful mixture of heather moorland and deep valleys that produce some of the best grouse, partridge, pheasant and duck shooting in the country, and the Warren Gill Shooting School offers an excellent choice of drives for all standards of clay pigeon shooting, providing tuition at every level. The school also has a rifle shooting range. The hotel has a gun cabinet and boot room, and is just a short walk from the estate yard and game larder where guns meet and disperse at the end of the day. Other country pursuits available on the estate include river fishing (grayling, trout, sea trout and salmon), reservoir fishing (rainbow trout), golf, riding, walking and falconry at our Bird of Prey Centre.
The Estate has over half of the ground in nationally run conservation schemes supported by Natural England which helps maintain the hugely valuable habitat recognised to have world wide conservation importance. Game preservation for shooting provides an essential link in the chain of keeping this habitat intact for conservation and environmental sustainability purposes.
Game Shooting
Grouse, partridge and pheasant shooting is available both on the estate and also on neighbouring estates (which we can help organise for you). A day of shooting is usually run for a party of nine (grouse) or eight (pheasant) guns. For a group of four guns, a Walking Day or an evening Duck Flight is also available. Details on these packages and prices are give below.
The shooting season runs from August through to January. Bookings for the main grouse or pheasant shooting days are usually made at least six months in advance, with some late availability dates currently available in October and November. The Walking Days and evening Duck Flights can usually be organised about a month in advance. Please contact the Estate’s shooting agent, James Raynar by email or call him on 01765 689224, for further details in terms of availability.
Shooting Packages
The packages available to guns wanting to shoot on the Estate are as follows:
Main Days (Grouse and Pheasant)
The Main Grouse and Pheasant days would be most suitable for those in
a party of nine and eight respectively, with driven birds being provided.
These days are the grandest in terms of profile, the number of birds and
the standard of shooting required, particularly in the case of Grouse
shooting.
Both these days start in the Estate Yard adjacent to the hotel, and the
guns would head off in the morning onto the estate for the first drive
of the day (you will need to organise your own 4x4 vehicles). There are
usually four drives per day for Grouse and six for Pheasant depending
on the size of bag and the time of year. The average size of bag is 100
brace for grouse and 250 birds for pheasant shooting.
Depending on weather conditions, lunch is usually served half way through
the day, either in a bothy hut on the moor on Grouse days or in the hotel’s
private dining room on Pheasant days. The guns usually return to the yard
by 4.30pm, sometimes a little earlier in the winter months.
Walked Up Days (Pheasant)
These days (for a party of four guns) are as enjoyable as the Main Days,
but offer a very different type of experience.
The birds are (on the whole) not driven and as a result the day is a little
more low key but also much more active, eminently suitable for a group
of guns who might be are looking for a more relaxed and informal event.
This day is not for the fainthearted though, as the guns may be walking
in fairly difficult terrain for longer period of time. The average size
of a bag is 50 birds.
Under the careful guidance of the Head Gamekeeper, Stephen Abbott, the
guns will walk together as a team to flush out the pheasant, and other
wild quarry. There may also be a few drives where the guns are positioned
and birds are driven to them, both of which make for an exhilarating day.
The guns would depart from the estate yard in the estate landrover, returning
to the hotel for lunch. The day would end at about 4.30pm, sometimes a
little earlier in the winter months.
New to the Scene
This is a package that we have put together for those who are already proficient at clay pigeon shooting, and want to experience driven bird shooting for the first time. It is not suitable for those who want to learn to shoot.
The day starts with an intense half day course of instruction on clays at the shooting school, Warren Gill. This would bring you you up to speed and help you get your eye in, with specific focus on the drives planned for the afternoon. This is followed by lunch at the hotel and then an afternoon of driven pheasant shooting nearby on the estate. There would be two drives and, depending on the level of shooting, we would expect the bag to be in the region of 50, for a team of four guns. Each gun would be supervised by an instructor during each drive - offering advice and support throughout. The aim is to ensure that all of the guns get a good opportunity to experience the excitement and thrill of driven bird shooting, enough to whet the appetite for shooting on a grander scale in the future!
The package includes :
- Guns, cartridges and insurance
- Half day instruction at Warren Gill shooting school
- Lunch at the hotel
- Transport to and from the shooting school and to each drive in the afternoon
- Two pheasant drives
- Hotel accommodation (single occupancy) and three course dinner (either
the night before or night after)
The cost per gun is £800, for a booking of a party of four guns.
Evening Duck Flighting
This package offers all the thrills and adrenaline you would expect from
duck flighting, at a number of lakes and ponds to choose from on the Estate.
The package includes tea at the hotel before joining the Head Gamekeeper,
Stephen Abbott, as he sets you up in position beside the water’s edge.
Once dusk has descended, the party returns to the hotel for a three course
dinner.
Depending on daylight hours, the guns would leave the yard in the estate
landrover at about 4.00pm and return after dark. If guests are not staying
at the hotel a room will be made available for them to change in.
Rates
The 2010 rates for the main grouse and pheasant days and the walking days include a night’s single occupancy accommodation, lunch and three course dinner at the hotel (including wine) for all guns. If the guns are bringing partners, there is an additional charge of £100 per room per night for double occupancy. If you have any queries about availability, dates, prices and arrangements, please do not hesitate to contact our shooting agent, James Raynar following the email link given or by calling him on 01765 689224.
The prices are as follows :
Grouse (for nine guns and nine rooms) : price per brace of birds on application to James Raynar
Pheasant (for eight guns and eight rooms) : price per bird on application to James Raynar
New to the Scene (including instruction, lunch, two drives, accommodation
and dinner) : £800 (inc VAT) per gun - a booking of four guns is
required on this package.
Walking Day (for four guns, accommodation and wine are not included):
£287.50 + VAT per gun
The Evening Duck Flight for 2 to 8 guns, including tea before (accommodation and wine are not included) : £100 + VAT per gun
Accommodation
For guns who are shooting on nearby estates who need accommodation, the following dinner, bed and breakfast rates (per person) are available for midweek bookings of 8 or more rooms :
| Single Occupancy | Double Occupancy | |
| Knights and Barons Rooms | £180.00 | £235.00 |
| Earls and Dukes Rooms | £220.00 | £275.00 |
| Suites | £320.00 | £385.00 |
If you would like to book rooms for your shooting party, please contact our Event Co-Ordinator, Fiona Barrow.
Clay Pigeon Shooting
The Warren Gill Shooting School is a short drive from the hotel (1 ½ miles), and offers tuition and an excellent range of drives for all standards. The school is run by CPSA qualified professional coaches.
Costs are :
Individual Beginner's Lesson (50 clays) - £55
One hour special "couples" rate (25 clays each) - £70
"One to One" tuition around the Course for the experienced shot
(max 100 clays) - £85
Around the Course without tuition (max 100 clays) - £55
All prices include gun hire, cartridges and clays. All bookings are allocated a personal instructor. Minimum age 10 yrs.
Please book this activity in advance via the hotel, prior to your stay. For more information about the shooting school please visit www.warrengill.co.uk
Hotel of the
Year 2004. White Rose Outstanding Customer Service Award 2006.
With 4 AA Red Stars and 3 AA Rosettes, Swinton Park is one of the highest rated hotels in Yorkshire and Cumbria