As the ban on hunting with dogs comes into force today (Friday), Countryside Reporter Ruth Lythe talks to Vale of Lune hunters and their supporters who oppose the ban, and an anti-hunt campaigner who says today couldn't come soon enough.

Trotting along through the misty morning air, the hunters and hounds of the Vale of Lune Harriers paused for a brief but historic photograph before riding out for the final time together.

Hundreds of supporters gathered on Wednesday to watch the 110-year old hunt and its harrier hounds meet at Hornby Castle, for the last time, before the ban on hunting with dogs comes into force today (Friday).

Surrounded by his pack of baying dogs, whose ancestors had hunted throughout the area over 100 years, Master of the Hunt, Clive Richardson, also voiced his anger at the ban.

"I am heart broken, this is the end of everything - it is part of our life and our history. I cannot understand this government that wants to stop everything that is English," he said.

The pack of harriers has been trained for generations to chase and catch hares but now they will no longer be able to follow their instinct.

"They will never leave their kennels again and they are going to become indolent, just sitting around but I am determined that they are not going to be put down," said Mr Richardson.

Hunters of all ages feared that the thrill of the chase would never be the same again for the hunt.

"Hunting is just so enjoyable, you get the biggest rush from it." said 14-year-old Tom Campbell, who has been riding since he was a small child.

Ingleton woman Andrea Lishman, who has been hunting with the harriers for ten years, said she felt the old class stereotype of hunting no longer existed.

"In the past it was probably true that it was a sport for the upper classes but today it is for anyone who likes horses."

But for some people the ban could not come quickly enough. Cumbrian coordinator of the League Against Cruel Sports, Elaine Milburn, has been campaigning against hunting, sometimes under cover, for years.

"The ban means a great deal to me and I find that, in this day and age, to kill something for pleasure is totally barbaric. There is no problem with foxes that cannot be dealt with by using a less cruel method, but not trapping or poisoning. And if someone cannot shoot something outright they should not be allowed to have a gun."

On Wednesday, (February 16) the pro hunting Countryside Alliance lost its last-ditch appeal against the ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales. Hunting with dogs has been banned in Scotland since 2002.

The alliance had wanted to contest the legality of the 1949 Parliament Act, which allows a government to pass legislation without the approval of the House of Lords, which was used to force the ban onto the statute book.

But the three High Court judges refused to overturn the Act.

The alliance now says it will make an urgent application directly to the House of Lords to hear its appeal.

CA chief executive Simon Hart said: "We will immediately petition the House of Lords to consider our case and the Appeal Court ruling provides strong grounds for them to find in our favour. The court felt uneasy about overturning an Act of Parliament that has been accepted for 55 years even though there were question marks over its validity."

The CA also claims that the ban contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights and is appealing. It is also pressing for compensation to those people who would lose out financially as a result of the ban.

About 50,000 people are expected to take part in some sort of hunting activity, whether illegal or illegal, on the first day of the ban. At the weekend, it was reported in the national press that internal documents from the Association of Chief Police Officers said that policing the ban had "not been afforded high priority in the National Policing Plan."

Police officers would have to see the fox or hare being chased by the hounds and it would be difficult to prove that the owners had not momentarily lost control of dogs, which had started chasing an animal.

Cumbria Police has said that it plans to enforce the legislation with impartiality and proportionality and "assess each incident separately." The League Against Cruel Sports has also said it will use trained monitors to police the ban throughout the country The knock-on effects of the ban have already been felt in Cumbria's legal system - one Eden magistrate, Myles Walker, has already quit because he feels unable to enforce the ban.

But members of Cumbria's fell packs said that they were prepared to stay within the limits of the legislation, fearing that they will no longer be insured if they say they will break the law.

Tomorrow (Saturday), fell packs across Cumbria are to meet as an act of defiance against the legislation.

Cumbrian Chairman of the Countryside Alliance, Alison Bolt, who hunts with the North Lonsdale Foxhounds, said that the hunt had changed its constitution in time for the ban. Instead of chasing foxes the hunt now aims to "take part in the legal exercise of hounds and to work for the introduction of lawful hunting."

Mrs Bolt said that the Foxhounds may turn to alternative activities, such as the hounds chasing the scent of a recently shot fox. But with the general election and a possible change of government approaching she was not sure yet which methods would be used.

"The practice of flushing foxes, with two dogs to a gun at lambing time, will certainly still go ahead," she said.