Veganic farmer makes clear Portman Hunt not welcome

Owner of Northwood Farm contacts Portman Hunt after they trespass on his land

Laurence Candy’s farm was certified to Biocyclic Vegan Standards in 2022. He’s already taken a principled stance against animal farming. Now he’s made clear that hunting is not welcome on his land either, and he has contacted the Portman Hunt to say so.

Candy is the owner of Northwood Farm, which has gained publicity in recent years by first converting to organic in 2019, and then making a move to veganic farming a couple of years later.

Candy wrote at the time:

“I can honestly say, it’s time I should stop keeping animals. Having seen life taken away, it’s not healthy for me to keep having to send animals to market. It only magnifies those experiences. Farmers run businesses, but at the end of the day we are human beings.

“I remember I had some beef animals to sell, but I couldn’t do it; this was probably the first time I had to fight with my conscience.”

Candy’s stance is a pretty rare one. So North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs were shocked to see the notorious Portman Hunt (PH) seemingly using Northwood Farm’s land on 18 January.

We contacted Candy to ask him whether he had given permission to the Hunt to use his land. He told us that he has kept the Portman off his land for the last two seasons. According to Candy: "They certainly did not have permission to enter the farm". Candy says he contacted the hunt to make clear they're not welcome.

Candy told Protect the Wild:

“Since the event’s of January the 18th, I have been in contact with the masters of the Portman Hunt and asked them not to access Northwood Farm. They have agreed to this and obviously in the future they will control their hounds as much as possible.”

We asked Candy his thoughts on hunting. He told us that he hopes that efforts will be made to rehome hunting hounds and horses if and when a full ban on trail hunting comes into place. According to Candy:

“If a ban is implemented, I sincerely hope that there’s viable alternatives put in place for the welfare of the fox hounds and horses.It would be a tragedy if hounds were destroyed and horses were denied access to the open countryside. With my cows at Hillside sanctuary (home to 2500 horses) these issues are at the forefront of my mind.”

Hunts routinely trespass on private land

Protect the Wild receives reports of hunts trespassing on farms, private gardens and other private land regularly. This can cause havoc for the people and animals who live nearby.

Hunt sab groups have reported that the Portman Hunt has trespassed 11 times since September 2024. Desperate to kill foxes, they’ve taken their pack through private gardens, a sewage works, a school, private farms and across land owned by the Woodland Trust. On top of that they’ve caused havoc on the roads on multiple occasions, causing the public to call the police on several occasions.

North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs described how on 09 October last year hounds from the PH had caused havoc and scared pets in a private garden. They wrote:

“Hearing the owners inside shouting, we went round to the gate to see if we could help. A distressed family were trying to chase the dogs out. They feared for a cat and kittens living in the yard. We went in and helped remove the remaining dogs. They told us that this was the second time this had happened.

For the next hour, the hunt looked for their hounds who had scattered far and wide”

The Portman’s hounds reportedly worried a group of sheep on 4 January this year too. The group recounted how the PH was illegally pursuing a fox across farmland. According to NDHS:

“The fox crossed the road back towards Farrington with hounds going through a field of terrified sheep. Police turned up shortly after, perhaps called by the farmer.”

All in the name of illegal hunting

Of course, the Portman is causing all this mayhem so that it can carry on hunting foxes. Protect the Wild is aware of at least eight times sabs have documented the hunt chasing foxes this season, and at least two instances of them chasing deer. All of this is done with zero regard for wildlife protection legislation which outlaws the hunting of mammals with dogs. Just check out this very clear video taken by North Dorset Hunt Sabs on 5 February 2025 of another occasion when the Portman's hounds chased a fox into private gardens:

In fact, Portman huntsman and master Tom Lyle and whipper-in Marcus Boundy were both convicted of breaching Section 1 of the Hunting Act at the end of 2024.

We’re glad that Northwood Farm has taken a principled against hunting taking place on their land. We know that hunts do pretty much what they like, but landowners do have power to protest when hunts enter their land, take measures to stop them and save some lives in doing so. In the Lake District, for example, landowners have formed a group to prevent hunts accessing their land. We hope to see more action like this in the future.

• Please support North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs to keep on making it difficult for the likes of the Portman to kill foxes. You can make a donation here.

• Click here to view Dorset Hunt Monitors’ website, and donate to the group here.