The Brown Horse (Cumbria)

“A Georgian coaching inn, situated in the heart of the Lake District, in the picturesque Winster Valley…we always create a warm welcome to visitors, locals and guests who have become firm friends over the years.” Bear that last part of the sentence in mind, because while the Brown Horse ostensibly looks like a picture-postcard sort of venue extolling the virtues of the picture-postcard scenery of the Lake District National Park (and the hotel’s website makes a great deal of the walking and the cycling etc) it has another role: serving up accommodation for the Arles Beck Shoot. The shoot advertises its claim to be “set in stunning scenery within the Lake District National Park” with a dead and bloodied pheasant clenched between the jaws of a labrador, and goes on to say that they can arrange accommodation at the ‘family-owned’ Brown Horse. The hotel is clearly linked on the shoot’s website (see the attached image), so we can only assume that it is happy to be associated with the bird slaughter taking place nearby…