Latest News: 16 August 2019 - The Grouse Are Back
Coverhead is a progressive estate located at the top of Coverdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park at 1100-2000ft. This wonderfully isolated and wild landholding spans three sides of the watershed at the head of the dale. Three thousand acres of open moorland and two thousand acres of diverse moorland edge habitat are farmed and managed in hand. Our core interest is the sustainable and ethical operation of a first class sporting estate whilst delivering a net gain in important ecosystem services both in the locality and the wider catchment.
We offer a range of bespoke shooting and related activities and Hunters' Hall, our onsite modernized 17th century royal hunting lodge, provides comfortable and discreet serviced accommodation with stunning views.
Coverhead is consistently in the vanguard of ground breaking conservation initiatives. Current projects include; Black Grouse Recovery, River Re-winding, Sphagnum Moss Harvesting and Wild Flower Meadow Restoration. You can learn more about our environmental programs below.
Overview and History
We offer a range of bespoke sporting opportunities and related activity packages: Driven and Walked Up Grouse, Driven and Walked Up Wild Game, Coverhead Introduction to Driven Grouse Courses, Simulated Grouse Practise and various Long Range Rifle Experiences.
This was my first taste of grouse shooting and I went for the package which included the training day prior to the shoot day. All nine guns were grouse virgins. On the 11th, we were met upon arrival by Stephen Mawle, the managing partner, where we were offered a very nice sandwich lunch and soup. We were then given a tour of the moor with a very interesting and insightful talk about grouse moor management. We also had a safety briefing with regard to operations on the 12th. We spent the rest of the afternoon with 3 professional coaches teaching us how to shoot grouse. The clays and ammunition were supplied as part of the experience. The instruction was very informative and enjoyable, despite the rain lashing down! This also allowed me to get to know the other guns.
We retired to the lodge for the night, were we were served a very good quality 3 course meal, with alcohol in abundance (if one was foolish enough to overindulge!). The accommodation and facilities in the shooting lodge were first class.
The following day we enjoyed 5 drives in windy but reasonably dry conditions. Some had better opportunities than others during the day (that is the nature of shooting) to shoot, but everyone had well presented and challenging birds over them. In total we shot 51 brace. Our shot/kill ratio was not great, but that is down to the guns - we certainly had a lot of opportunities to shoot presented to us.
I cannot praise enough the reception, facilities, the coaching and the shooting. Being a first timer, I missed plenty but I still thoroughly enjoyed the whole package and am very grateful to Coverhead Farms and Stephen for a great experience. I'm now trying to work out how I can afford this again next year!
