HUNTING, horse breeding and racing in Victorian England form the basis of a new exhibition at a North-East museum.

The display has been put together by volunteers and has gone on show at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle.

The hunting section marks the 150th anniversary of the deaths of novelist Robert Smith Surtees and his illustrator, John Leech.

Surtees was a lawyer and Durham squire whose novels set in the world of crooked horse dealers, rascally servants, and city girls on the make were enormously popular with the Victorian public.

Their success owed at least asmuch to the illustrations by John Leech as to the stories themselves.

The rest of the exhibition is devoted to the museum’s founder John Bowes and his passion for the turf.

His Streatlam Stud produced many famous horses, including four Derby winners. One of them, West Australian, became the first horse ever to win the triple crown of the Guineas, Derby and St Leger in the same year.

Bowes was a well-known figure in racing circles, both in England and France, where he was a leading member of the Jockey Club.

The display will run for a year. Entry is included in the admission cost to the museum, with accompanied children under 16 admitted free.