Poacher Bill, introduced.

Old Bill was a Cotswold man through and through, born and bred to Country ways and lived in a little village near Burford, often referred to as the Gateway to the Cotswolds.

Bill had four great consuming interests in life, they all started off as hobbies and gradually intermingled with each other until they became one. Taking over his whole life.

First he loved to make wine, and could brew it from every natural living thing. His garden shed , kitchen and spare bedroom contained more bottles than many a customs Warehouse. He loved arranging what he called his wine tastings, when asked the locals from all around suddenly had sick relatives who had to be visited, any newcomer to the village unfamiliar with these “tastings” would be seen to be almost legless for days. This became his second hobby.

His third hobby was telling a good old Country yarn, and when the wine had been flowing, and Bill was holding forth in the Local Tavern, having first taken off his old wellington boots, and donned his slippers, the customers raised their glasses and demanded he would begin another yarn. The landlord never needed to hire entertainment old Bill provided it free.

His Fourth Hobby was poaching. He loved to pit his wits against the wiles of Game Keepers, Police, and hostile Farmers, they never caught old Bill, and many a morning I would find a hare, or brace of pheasants, hanging up by my back door, apparently having given themselves up for the sole purpose of providing me with sustenance.

Bill never sold any of his poaching gains, he gave it away , leaving a hare or pheasant on many a back doorstep much to the delight of the recipient.