Chideock Manor (Dorset)

“Set in 12 acres of some of Dorset’s most beautiful countryside with unspoilt views of hills and woodlands, Chideock Manor has extensive and varied gardens…The Regency Manor House was built in 1811 by the Weld family…The same family occupied the house until 1996 when it was bought by Howard and Deirdre Coates.” Yet another member of the National Garden Scheme that allows hunts to meet in the ‘beautiful countryside’ it owns and yet another venue in Dorset pampering to bloodsports. We had our eyes on Chideok already as a supporter who lives locally had recently told us that just a few weeks earlier they had seen ‘a hunt’ at Chideok Manor and that “there were hunt supporters vehicles and horse boxes everywhere” when we discovered that Two Counties Hunt Sabs drone footage in March 2025 showing the Ilminster-based Seavington Hunt enjoying all the largesse a wealthy estate has to offer. The sabs wrote “After catching them, red-handed, killing a fox at their opening meet, we thought it fitting to see off the Seavington at their closing meet of the season.” Indeed. Clearly this meet was not a one-off. If that weren’t enough to get the Manor listed on bloodbusiness, it hosts a pheasant shoot and shooting lobbyists BASC held a “Young Shot Shooting Experience Day at Chideock Manor” in May 2024. So it appears that the owners not only host hunts but give shooting lobby groups the opportunity to ‘coach’ young people in the wonders of blowing birds out of the air… It’s £10 to get into the Manor Gardens, visitors might perhaps now be wondering whether they are helping subsidise the champagne served up to various shooters and wildlife criminals before they set off to harass the local wildlife…