A hunt master has apologised after residents in a small peninsula hamlet were left shaken, shocked and angry as horses and hounds caused havoc down its narrow lanes.

Home owners alleged hounds were out of control, horses were being ridden at dangerous speeds forcing people to take refuge in their houses, while pets ran away scared as the Suffolk and Essex Hunt went down Hollow Lane and into Church Road.

One villager, who asked not to be named, told Nub News: "If a car had been coming up the hill I fear a horse, or its ride, could have been seriously hurt, or even worse killed. The way the horse was being ridden, and at such high speed, meant there would have been no way a collision could have been avoided.

"My mum narrowly missed someone as she came out of our drive, she is always careful because of where we are but another couple of inches and who knows?

"There were hounds, horses and carriages zooming everywhere, it was really dangerous and frightening. I know people were really worried for their pets, especially cats that run away scared, with hounds all over the place.

"I tried to remonstrate with the huntsman and told one 'if you continue to come up and down here like this, it will kill you or someone else'."

Gillian Cranfield, who was Master of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt yesterday, said: "I'm sorry if we caused alarm. I can quite understand how alarming it may be if you suddenly see a lot of horses and hounds coming through your village if you are not expecting it.

"While we only go on land where we are invited to do so by the landowner, or on bridal paths and roadways, where we are legally entitled to do so, we weren't intending our hounds to into private land.

"There was an incident where the scent got sprayed around and we were trying to retrieve the hounds which had got away from us, and did so successfully quite quickly.

"One particular gentleman was clearly upset, was extremely rude and acting in a dangerous manner, but we will not be taking that any further.

"We are sorry for any inconvenience."

The hunt, which started in Harkstead, travelled over much of the peninsula where it had permission to ride and Mrs Cranfield insisted many people were pleased to see them.

She added: "On the other side, we had a number of people calling afterwards to say how pleased they were to see us on the peninsula.

"One lady in particular came to find me and tell me how delighted she was to see the hunt, with all the colour and the hounds."

Although there was no suggestion the hunt was chasing a fox, which was made illegal in 2004, there were concerns over animal welfare and the police were notified by residents.

A Suffolk Constabulary spokesman said: "We received a report on Monday, March 9 at about 12.50pm of a report of a group of horses and a quad bike reportedly going at speed in the area of Chelmondiston. No other calls were received at the time."

Meanwhile, the League Against Cruel Sports advice people to take pictures or video of what they're seeing, as long as they feel safe to do so, and then:

• Report hounds out of control and/or horses ridden dangerously on public roads to the police, as this is could be an offence under the Road Traffic Act
• Report any instance of abuse received by the hunts and/or foot followers to the police
• Send evidence or report hunts to the League's animal crimewatch service, at [email protected] or call 01483 524250 

Nick Weston, head of campaigns, said: "The aggressive way this hunt is said to have behaved speaks volumes about the lack of respect these people have for the community around them.

"Often the hunts will claim they will be following a pre-laid trail, but if this was true why were the hounds out of control on public roads, potentially causing a nasty accident? We would say it's because they are not hunting legally, that 'trail' hunting is just a cover for illegal hunting, and it's time the Hunting Act was strengthened to stop incidents like this happening."