The Field

The Countess Bathurst

IT IS NOT every day that you take a bite from a police dog. But this is exactly what I am doing thanks to the persuasive skills of the Countess Bathurst, the chatelaine of Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire. She’s described by the Duchess of Rutland in her popular podcast Duchess as “a tornado of a woman”. I am learning why.

Incongruously we are in the middle of one of the Park’s prestigious polo pitches, famous for hosting sporting royals from the Duke of Windsor to HM The King. But it also doubles up as a police dog training ground and “has done for generations”.

We meet

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