Meanwhile, Back in Translyvania

The Express On Sunday, January 21, 2001
HUNTSMEN INVITED TO RIDE OUT IN ROMANIA
By Karl Kirk in Slobozea, Romania

HUNTSMEN are being invited to take their sport to Romania if it is banned in Britain.

Millionaire businessman Guiseppe Bacchi, who owns huge tracts of land there, says costs are low and there are "more than enough foxes for everyone".

British hunters could even have their own horses and hounds and have them permanently based in Romania.

"It's a great solution," Bacchi said yesterday. "There are lots of foxes around here and even if no hunts move here we might even buy one, or at least buy real British hounds to provide the feel of the hunt for guests."

Hunters who take up his invitation could find themselves galloping past a life-size replica of JR Ewing's Southfork ranch from the eighties' TV soap Dallas.

The estate was built to cash-in on a wave of Dallas fever after the country's former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu allowed the soap on TV.

The ranch ended up in Mr Bacchi's hands after the previous owners were caught up in a series of financial scandals and its founder, Alexandru Ilie, was jailed for fraud.

Mr Bacchi said it was too soon to decide whether the ranch will maintain its Texan image and fittings - complete with a Cadillac outside the front door - or be changed into a copy of an English country home.

He will also have to decide what to do with the open-air stage and 200ft-high copy of the Eiffel Tower - which he admits do not fit in with the image of traditional British fox hunting.

His estate dominates the eastern plains of Romania, outside the town of Slobozea on the main road between the capital Bucharest and the Black Sea port of Constanta.

Slobozea was one of Ceausescu's industrial centres, but now suffers from high unemployment after the dilapidated communist factories were closed.

It would welcome an invasion of British huntsmen as the resort has not brought in income for years.

When the flow of holidaymakers dried up, the ranch became known as a den of iniquity and a hang-out for foreign mobsters.

"I think it would be really great to see and would also bring a lot of Romanians here just to see the British hunters," said Petra Moise, 24, a shop assistant in a local boutique. "Perhaps Prince Charles will bring his sons here - there are lots of girls who would find that interesting."

Taxi driver Ion Georgescu, 53, said the hunt would bring much-needed finance into the area, where salaries average around GBP40 a month.

"Only the Mafia use my taxi these days - and even they are running out of money," he said.

"It would be nice to have some colour around here and at least there would be something to go and see."

Teacher Catalina Suciu, 29, said: "Our town used to be famous because of Southfork and that was a bit embarrassing for us sometimes. But having English fox-hunters here would really put us on the map."