Belvoir Castle (Leics)

Belvoir Castle is a faux historic castle and stately home near Grantham. It is owned by David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland, whose direct male ancestor inherited it in 1508. Famous for its use as the backdrop in various films and TV series (most lately The Crown), Belvoir is also well-known as the home of the Belvoir Hunt (aka The Duke of Rutland’s Hounds) whose hounds are kenneled on site and are a favourite of daughter and hunting enthusiast Alice Manners, a long-time partner of notorious fox hunt blowhard Otis Ferry. Manners also owns Moscar, an SSSI and grouse moor in the Peak District that is burnt every year sending clouds of smoke into Sheffield. In spring 2020, Moscar’s gamekeepers were investigated by the RSCPA after using a fatally wounded call bird in a Larsen trap, trapping hypothermic fox cubs and illegally setting traps on badger setts. The Belvoir Estate is featured on the shooting website GunsOnPegs where it is described with typical hyperbole: “With it’s [sic] dramatic views, deep valleys, historic parkland and lakes the Belvoir Castle Estate is the perfect place to offer the finest partridge, pheasant and duck shooting in breathtaking surroundings.” If we think about that just for a second, we’ll realise which living beings will be – literally – having their breath taken away at Belvoir…