DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH'S
25 February
Edited by Catherine Austen
catherine.austen@futurenet.com
@cfausten123
Duke of Buccleuch's Makerstoun, Kelso
EVERY now and again, it's important, I think, to do something that scares us a little. It sharpens us up, gets the heart beating a bit quicker and, if successfully negotiated, the “high” afterwards often gives us confidence to be braver in another aspect of life.
I've had a lovely hunting season at home in the Cotswolds, but I haven't pushed myself out of my comfort zone in any way, really. So when Bill Farnsworth, vice-chairman of the Duke of Buccleuch's, asked if I would come up to the Borders, report a day's hunting and then give the after-dinner speech at their hunt supper that night – something I'd never done before – I thought I ought to say yes.
I mean, Scotland's a long way from Stow-on-the-Wold. If I made a mess of the speech and
