Stokenchurch

The rebus shows a map of STOKE, an N and a CHURCH [REB7].

Food was one of the many themes of the 1998 Hunt. If you take the initial letters of the edibles listed then you get a final addition to the feast � AND RED HERRING [STO1].  However, if you take the last letter of each item then you get a different message � BOWERMANS NOSE [STO2]. This is the name of a rocky outcrop on Dartmoor (the �wild part of the country�). It is the subject of a local legend, as follows:

A huntsman called Bowerman lived on the moor around one thousand years ago. When chasing a hare he and his pack of dogs unwittingly ran into a coven of witches, overturned their cauldron and disrupted their ceremony. They decided to punish him, and the next time he was hunting, one of the witches turned herself into a hare, and led both Bowerman and his hounds into a mire. As a final punishment, she turned them to stone � the dogs can be seen as a jagged chain of rocks on top of Hound Tor, while the huntsman himself became the rock formation now known as Bowerman's Nose. With a little imagination, it is possible to see something resembling a human face in the rocky outline.

In keeping with the theme of this Hunt, you now need to turn your attention to Hound Tor (�where I used to walk with my dog�). From a map of the area you can see that RUELAKE PIT [STO3] is roughly to the south-east of the tor. I must confess to a mistake here because the Hound Tor in question is not the one near Bowerman's Nose (known as Great Hound Tor) but another some miles away. Apologies to those who were stymied by this. Mary Pollock is a pen name of Enid Blyton, another of the themes of the 1998 Hunt. Julian, Dick, Anne and George are four of the Famous Five from her well-known series of children�s stories. The remaining member is TIMMY the dog [STO4]. All this a nod to 1998 ATH setter, Brian Mills, whose team is always called The Famous Five.

The words used to describe the conversation � �innocently�, �wisely�, �incredulously�, �secretly� and �scandalously� � are meant to recall the Father Brown stories of GK Chesterton. These are The Innocence of Father Brown, The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Secret of Father Brown and The Scandal of Father Brown [STO5].  Gilbert and Keith are what the GK in Chesterton stand for. One of the stories (in The Innocence�) is The EYE of Apollo [STO6].

Passwords and Directions

(a) RUELAKE to get to the M40 Junction 5.
(b) TIMMY to get to Ibstone.
(c) EYE to get to Lane End.