Gloucester shoot is a poster child for passion 

A shoot in Gloucester has scooped the Purdey Gold Award for its “impressive scale and integrated approach to farming and shooting.” 

Macaroni Farm was presented with the award at Purdey’s Mayfair headquarters in on 5 February. The 3,600-acre estate faced stiff competition from six other shortlisted shoots and was praised as a “brilliant example of how commercial shooting can be sustainable alongside wild game and wider conservation interests”. 

The judges said the estate “could be a poster child for the conservation farming sector, and it is clearly driven by a passion for shooting”. 

James Bendall, gamekeeper at Macaroni Farm, said: “The Phillips family’s passion for the custodianship and stewardship of the land is quite frankly amazing, and it’s a real privilege for me to be working there with such an amazing team behind me. Awards like the Purdeys are the shield that we can defend ourselves with in the future.” 

The Silver Award went to Monk Wood Shoot in Chesterfield and the Bronze to Bisterne Estate in Hampshire. 

As the Purdey Awards celebrated their 25th anniversary, a new award was presented to Jon Fuller, keeper at Hatton Grange in Shropshire, for his “outstanding efforts and personal investment”.