A controversial ban on hunting with dogs will come into force tomorrow after the failure of a last-minute legal challenge. Catherine Jewitt visited the South Durham Hunt on a day that could mark the end of a countryside tradition.

THE last chance to stop a ban on hunting with dogs disappeared when pro-hunt campaigners lost a legal appeal yesterday.

A plea by the Countryside Alliance to stop the ban coming into effect in England and Wales tomorrow was thrown out minutes before hunt parties across the country gathered for what could be their last fox-hunting meets.

The alliance had called for any potential criminal proceedings to be blocked while activists continue to petition against the ban, which they claim was pushed through Parliament using an invalid law.

But the Court of Appeal dismissed the challenge, leaving the decision to prosecute to the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, who ruled out a blanket policy of not enforcing the ban.

He said he would work with the director of public prosecutions and police to consider what approach to take to such prosecutions.

John Jackson, chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said the organisation now plans to take the battle to the country's highest court, the Law Lords.

As news of the judges' decision reached the heart of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency, in County Durham - where the South Durham Hunt met yesterday - supporters remained defiant.

Hunt master Mark Shotton said: "We'll take this fight as far as we can, not give up on what we believe in.

"If banned, jobs will be lost, hounds will have to be shot and we'll lose an important tradition."

Huntsman Simon Dobinson took the team in search of 'Tony's fox' - a cunning creature that lives near the Prime Minister's Myrobella home, in Trimdon Colliery.

Mr Dobinson said: "It was business as usual for the day and we will see what the future holds.

"We will see out the last weeks of the season with drag hunts and hope that keeps enough funds coming in to keep the dogs and horses fed. Hopefully, the ban will be lifted before we have to lose them."

Supporters had gathered on Sedgefield village green to bid farewell to the local hunt, which started in 1872, and witness the typically rural English postcard scene for what could be the last time.

Shirley Bowes, hunt secretary for 26 years, had a lump in her throat as the string of mounted horses were led by a pack of foxhounds across the rolling hillsides and patchwork fields of South Durham.

Mrs Bowes said: "It is one of my saddest days, fox-hunting is a passion and a way of life.

"People are sick of hearing supporters saying 'those against it don't understand' but it is true. People from all walks of life enjoy hunting and it is the best method of pest control.

"This used to be Great Britain but more and more traditions are being taken away, there is little great about it now."

Angus Collingwood-Cameron, North East director of the Country Land and Business Association, said: "We think it should be landowners, not central Government, that make decisions about what happens on their land."

Supporter Trudy Fielding was among the spectators who followed the party in cars, listening for the toot of the huntsman's horn and to catch a view of excitable hounds racing across the countryside.

She said: "It is a magnificent sight to see. It is exciting and sometimes scary to ride with the group.

"It is a way of life for people, a passion. I got quite emotional as they set off for the last time, I cannot see drag hunting being enough to keep us going."

Animal rights activists said the ruling should mark an end to the pro-hunt campaign.

John Rolls, of the RSPCA, wrote on the charity's website: "Having presented its arguments to Parliament and the courts, the pro-blood sports Countryside Alliance must now accept the outcome of the democratic process- that hunting is cruel and unnecessary."