Simulated days for sporting sorts
These simulated days can extend your season in splendid style, from weekend house-party vibes to bucket-list destinations, truly challenging clays and the perfect friends-and-family sport
The simulated shooting season is starting to swing. Over the past decade there has been exponential growth in the clay shooting on offer for keen close-season guns and those eager to give shooting a go. Particularly popular are days that aim to recreate the camaraderie and rhythms of a traditional shoot: think elegant Elevenses, excellent hosts, gun buses and banter. The sadness of the last shoot lunch no longer needs to be lingered over: corral the troops and put a spring or summertime simulated day into the diary. Yet with so many to choose from, how does one winkle out the shoot to suit? The Field has compiled a list of some of the best.
Away for the weekend
Plenty of top-drawer simulated shoots can provide excellent accommodation too. It’s the perfect reason to set off for some fun farther afield.
Ashcombe estate, Wiltshire
Expect to fire up to 1,000 cartridges on a day at this sporting paradise, where double gunning is heartily encouraged and the drives are always evolving. “It means returning teams don’t shoot the same drives year on year or even in the same season,” explains Miles Orford of Frederick Beesley, which took on the simulated days four years ago. Ashcombe uses a series of customdesigned trailers that give huge variety, while traps are out of sight to maintain a natural aesthetic. The food is of high order: flame-cooked and served at a WildKitchen safari tent overlooking the lake. Accommodation is available in the luxurious nine-bedroom Studio or The Farmhouse, a traditional shooting lodge.
Price: from £450pp including VAT (without accommodation). Teams: 4-18 guns. Single pegs: No.
Bryngwyn
Bryngwyn estate, Powys
This Welsh estate close to the Cheshire and Shropshire border has a choice of 16 drives utilising the steep topography and handsome parkland. High, simulated pheasants are a staple as are three lines of grouse butts. Double Barrelled Shooting has been putting on sim days here for the past 14 years, with drives designed by shoot captain Ian Hartland and his knowledgeable team. Hosting duties are shared by estate owner Auriol, Marchioness of Linlithgow, whose family has lived at Bryngwyn for more than two centuries. Elevenses by the lake are a must, and breakfast and lunch in the house are included (as is use of the billiard room for a cheeky post-shoot game of snooker or Freda). Guests can arrange to stay in the main house. “Our hospitality is legendary,” says Lady Linlithgow.
Price: from £285pp plus VAT (without accommodation). Teams: 12-20 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
Crogen estate, Denbighshire
The Robertson family has owned this estate, which covers 2,500 acres in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, since 1857 and is heavily involved with the sport. There’s simulated grouse on the 1,000- acre moor and the upland landscape is perfectly suited to towering drives. Shoot days have been run by Game On, led by Trevor Reece, for more than a decade with drives “designed by shooters for shooters”, he says. When you’ve had your sporting fill, hospitality includes unlimited gin and tonic, beer and wine with lunch. This can be served in the summer house metres from the Dee when the weather is fine. Additionally guests can arrange to stay in Crogen Hall or the comfortable Coach House.
Price: from £330pp (without accommodation). Teams: 12-22 guns Single pegs: occasionally.
Drumlanrig, Dumfries and Galloway
Nestled in the picturesque Lowther Hills, the ‘Pink Palace’ is renowned for its array of sport. The Buccleuch team first offered simulated game days on Drumlanrig’s Queensberry estate in 2022. It is now famous for startlingly high clays. Breakfast rolls are served in the castle’s Steward’s Room and lunch is usually taken out on the heather or at an upland bothy. Days are aimed at seasoned guns, although it also hosts ‘have a go’ days for novices. After five drives, it’s back to the Steward’s Room for post-shoot sustenance or guests can enjoy fine dining at the 11-bedroom former factor’s residence, Dabton House.
Price: from £350pp including VAT (without accommodation). Teams: 8-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
Within striking distance of London
Eminently useful for those heading out from town, these simulated sporting days guarantee you’ll be back for bathtime.
Downlands, Hampshire. Image Sarah Farnsworth
Downlands, Hampshire
Barely an hour from west London, Downlands is jointly run as a regenerative farming business and simulated shoot. Approached via a deer park, it stretches across a valley of tranquil lakes, ancient woodland and unspoiled meadows. Co-owner Lydia Gilboy hosts the days with estate manager Luke Watts. Drives make the most of the varied terrain, including ‘grouse’ in wooden butts “tailored to replicate the challenge of driven grouse or to provide a perfect warmup for September partridge”, says Gilboy. Days conclude with a lakeside champagne reception. Organic estate produce is served in scenic locations from woodland cabins to a restored 16th-century barn.
Price: from £315pp plus VAT/£5,050 plus VAT for the day. Teams: 16 guns max. Single pegs: Yes.
Englefield estate, Berkshire
Located just a few miles from Junction 12 off the M4, Englefield, the 15,000-acre home of the Benyon family, is already familiar to many from its appearances in productions such as The King’s Speech and The Crown. Purdey has had a 30-year relationship with the estate, and guests enjoy unparalleled access to the house with breakfast served on arrival overlooking the deer park. ‘Parkland pheasant’ and ‘flighted duck’ drives are as realistic as they come. Once shooting has concluded, guns return for drinks in the library before enjoying lunch in the Englefield dining room – an occasion in itself.
Price: from £365pp including VAT Teams: 18 guns (up to 32 guns for corporate days). Single pegs: Yes
Seabrook Sporting, Essex
Established in 2022, Seabrook Sporting has created a shooting experience designed to challenge and entertain guns of all ability levels at its primary site, the family farm near Chelmsford. It now features a fast and exciting grouse drive, high woodland pheasant platforms, carefully dug low partridge drives, elevated treetop rabbit drives and simulated duck over one of the lakes (including exploding clays). Inhouse chefs keep everyone supplied with food and drink. Barely an hour from east London, it is ideally located for corporate events or just a day out of town. Seabrook runs other venues in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and can even bring the sport to you, transporting equipment to private farms and estates (following a free consultation) for a simulated shoot at home.
Price: £250pp plus VAT. Teams: 10-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
The classics
Revered for delivering top-notch sporting excitement, these well-known names are on every simulated shooting bucket list.
Barbury Shooting School, Wiltshire
Run by the Stephens family, Barbury has more than 100 simulated days this season across its six different estates in Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. All host game shoots during the season and simulated days from March until the end of September. The Littlecote estate even has some simulated days planned for December: a true mark of their popularity. Managing director and owner Huw Stephens hosts the days assisted by his capable team, while his wife Victoria is known as the ‘queen of canapés’. Groups can book the whole day or individuals can buy single pegs. Expect to fire up to 400 cartridges over the five drives of the day.
Price: from £275pp including VAT Teams: 18 guns max. Single pegs: Yes
Great Tew estate
Prepare to enter a world of oak forests, bluebell-carpeted woodland and thatched cottages. This quintessential English estate, in the heart of the north Cotswolds, features an outstanding selection of drives brought to you by West London Shooting School. Guns will shoot challenging high pheasants on Cottenham Bank, unique and exhilarating grouse from eight stone butts on Raven Hill Moor, and feel the anticipation build as they wait for the partridge drive on Gorse Bank. With a renowned game shoot, the ground naturally lends itself to producing some of the best simulated clay drives anywhere in the country. Combining more than 6,000 clays flying over the team across five drives with superb food and drink in the field, a day at Great Tew is an excellent way to keep skills sharp, experience something new or reciprocate an invitation.
Price: from £325pp including VAT or £4,250 plus VAT for the day. Teams: 8-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
Raisthorpe Flyers, North Yorkshire
Guns love to return to this family-run farm in the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds (more than 90% are rebooked for this season), which has been flying clays since 2008. David and his two sons, Oliver and Edward, host teams of guns (some fully clad in tweed, others new to the sport) over six drives, tailored to guests, so that everyone is “hitting and happy”, believes Oliver. There are instructors and guns for hire too. Take Elevenses at The Covey, a newly built treehouse, or under canvas at The Nest and experience the famous wine train in the huge lodge. Expect all the simulatedshooting high points ticked off in style at this Yorkshire trailblazer.
Price: £470pp plus VAT, including cartridges. Teams: eight pegs for 16 guns Single pegs: Yes.
Six Mile Bottom Shoot, Cambridgeshire
Based on Wadlow Farm, the shoot sits at the heart of the old Cambridgeshire partridge belt. Simulated days follow the same contours as the former grey partridge drives. Established by Richard Clarke in 2003, the enterprise was built on his knowledge of the ground and passion for traditional East Anglian sport. A bespoke and fully portable clay trailer has eight programmable traps on a scissor lift, allowing for great variance and versatility. The dedicated team includes chef Alison Larkin who delivers delicious home-cooked food, including venison scotch eggs and partridge dishes. All are welcome, from those wanting a pre-season tune-up, syndicates and young shots to corporates, shooting clubs and individuals.
Price: from £195pp including VAT for a standard day/£450pp for a corporate day, including VAT and cartridges. Teams: 12-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes
Thimbleby, North Yorkshire
The 3,000-acre Thimbleby estate on the fringes of the North York Moors makes best use of its deep valleys, steep woodland and dramatic open upland to operate simulated days year round. With one or two shoots a week, it provides the perfect opportunity for a standalone day or some mid-season practice. Featuring all the latest technical wizardry to mimic high pheasants, partridges and grouse, the shooting is akin to a proper day in the field. Breakfast and lunch are served at the recently renovated Woodlands farmhouse, and Elevenses at a lakeside safari tent. The depth of experience offered by instructors and shooting-ground staff ensures clays are pitched correctly for all abilities. A recent partnership means the experience is curated by the Roxtons sporting agency.
Price: from £380pp, including VAT and cartridges. Teams: 10-18 guns Single pegs: Yes.
Stately surroundings
These rural piles and their bewitching grounds have all featured on film and television but it’s the first-rate simulated sport that keeps teams returning.
Boughton estate, Northamptonshire
With an 18th-century landscaped garden and one of the prettiest backdrops against which to shoot clays, the Boughton estate equals simulated shoot days in bigscreen- worthy surroundings. Each stand commands far-reaching views over the parkland and the duck drive has guns lined up along the ornamental lake inspired by Versailles. Little surprise films such as Napoleon and Les Misérables were shot at Boughton. Simulated game manager and host George Whittaker, former huntsman of the Woodland Pytchley, uses his hunting horn to signal the start and finish of each of the five drives. A picnic lunch is provided as well as roast beef with all the trimmings after shooting. Several hospitality packages are available to suit appetites and budgets, and the difficulty of clays can be adjusted to suit ability levels.
Price: from £200pp plus VAT depending on package. Teams: 10-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
Highclere Castle, Hampshire
The ancestral seat of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon (and the Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey) enjoys a celebrated reputation thanks to wonderful downland topography and established woodland. Purdey at The Royal Berkshire has exclusive access to the estate, and its team provides drive after drive of pulse-raising simulated shooting. ‘Hampshire grouse’ and competition drives to establish the top gun for the day are interspersed with the usual shoot-day trappings, such as lunch in the famous Jack Russell pub.
Price: from £365pp including VAT Teams: 16 guns. Single pegs: Yes
West Wycombe estate, Buckinghamshire
This polished offering from EJ Churchill has everything one might hope to find on a sim day: from the backdrop of the neoclassical West Wycombe estate (setting of a host of period dramas) to the extraordinary hunting lodge at Fryers Farm where guns meet to start the day. Game-based sustenance is provided throughout by local caterers (think venison tacos and popcorn pigeon). Elevenses are served at the Temple of the Winds, a striking hilltop location, while lunch can be staged on Music Island reached by rowing boat. The rolling Chiltern topography is ideal for showing the best clays, with each drive feeling distinct. Alternatively, visit one of EJ Churchill’s other sites at Seal’s Cove in Aberdeenshire or the Swinton estate in North Yorkshire. Price: from £280pp plus VAT. Teams: 16 guns. Single pegs: Yes.
Friends and family
Boasting many of the touchstones of a game shoot but with an extra sprinkling of informality and fun, these setups don’t take themselves too seriously while providing truly exciting shooting and hospitality that’s second to none.
Callaly, Northumberland
Sally forth to the Callaly estate near Alnwick for testing shooting amid vast views of Northumberland from a series of elevated vantage points. The simulated shoot was started by owner Richard Bateson over a decade ago. He has used his 45 years’ experience running game shoots to provide as authentic an experience as possible. Days include two moorland grouse drives (driven and going away), high pheasants, partridges and a rabbit/duck/firework drive. The grouse and partridge drives use two sixtrap grouse simulators to imitate coveys alongside the other traps. All traps are set to random so even the hosts don’t know where clays are coming from. There is a variety of tailored hospitality packages to choose from.
Price: from £175pp plus VAT. Teams: 12- 16 guns. Single pegs: No.
Hilldrop, Wiltshire
Set across three steep-sided valleys with splendid views of the Marlborough Downs, Hilldrop is an exciting prospect. Established by owner and host Tim Eliot-Cohen 25 years ago, there’s a range of options available, from lavish events suited to corporate entertaining and big birthdays, to lower-key family affairs. Alongside the jaw-droppingly high pheasants and partridges, the set-up also has snipe, teal and woodcock drives as well as ‘pest’ drives where guns can tackle magpies, rats and even exploding flying squirrels. Pimm’s and a panoramic picnic make up Elevenses while lunch takes place on the Ibiza-style roof terrace atop the newly finished Pool House. “For the past two years every single party has rebooked for the following season, which must imply that we are getting something right,” says Eliot-Cohen.
Price: £5,400 plus VAT. Teams: 20 guns. Single pegs: No.
Hilldrop Simulated Game Shoots
Medland estate, Devon
The rolling countryside of this Mid-Devon estate has superb ground. The gun bus ferries guests around a series of drives designed by Ashley Butler, whose family has owned the estate for half a century. Expect high pheasants, fizzing partridges and low, hurtling grouse with guns spread around woodland rides and meadows. Once finished, guns return for drinks and tapas to the licensed pub where they are served a flame-cooked lunch produced by Butler’s wife Becky: guns can look forward to scallops cooked on hot coals in their own shells, crown of grouse with rosehip ketchup, and fillet of Red Ruby Devon beef. With just 12 dates a year and most guests returning, it is worth booking early.
Price: £265pp plus VAT. Teams: 12- 16 guns. Single pegs: occasionally.
Rievaulx Clays, North Yorkshire
Although the shoot has been in the Birkett family for decades, sim days started as recently as 2020 in this dramatic landscape. Running as a commercial game shoot during the season allows founder Henry Birkett and team to replicate the drives in the summer. Days begin with breakfast in the grounds of 12th-century Rievaulx Abbey while a Land Rover with an inbuilt pizza oven meets guests in the field for Elevenses. The shoot caters for all abilities: Bowman Flurry Master traps allow flightpaths to be altered midway through a drive if required. Rievaulx attracts all sorts, from young farmers and local tradesmen to corporate awaydays and stag dos. “A lot of our game clients join us in the summer, too,” says Birkett.
Price: from £350pp plus VAT, including cartridges. Teams: 10-18 guns. Single pegs: Yes.