Just within sight of the mainland border, surrounded by grassy hills and overlooked by Shenzhen's serried ranks of skyscrapers, Fanling seems to be about as far as you can go while remaining in the New Territories. Numerous elements of the town's past linger.
The Fanling area evolved into a residential haven for Europeans in the 1920s. The Hong Kong Golf Club course, near Sheung Shui, laid out in 1911, helped start the trend. Golfers generally made a weekend of it and special trains ran between Kowloon and Fanling in the 30s. Hakka women caddies, with distinctive black-fringed crownless hats, remain a noted feature. Like the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Hong Kong Golf Club chose to abandon its royal prefix - and part of its history - during the pre-handover frenzy when political correctness was at a premium.
Several original bungalows remain near the golf course, hidden away behind massive trees. Hutchison International taipan Sir Douglas Clague's home, Kam Tsin Lodge, was bought by Sino Land tycoon Robert Ng Chee Siong in 1987, and while the once-magnificent gardens have been pared away for development, the house remains completely intact, right down to the wrought-iron chairs on the verandah. Fanling Lodge, built as a summer retreat for the governor of Hong Kong in 1934, is probably the best-preserved pre-war structure in the area.
Riding was perennially popular and the Jockey Club established stables at Beas River, near Sheung Shui, in the 20s. The Beas River Country Club was a venue for equestrian events during last summer's Olympic Games. Connections to Hong Kong's early years can be seen here; the stone gates from the old Jardine Matheson compound in Causeway Bay were relocated here in the 30s.
Packs of English foxhounds were imported for the famed Fanling Hunt, held in the winter, when the district's rice paddies were dry and fallow. Regular picnic races took place on an impromptu racetrack at Kwan Tei, followed by drinks at the nearby Hunter's Arms pub.
The British Army presence dominated Fanling life for decades; while the army camps remain, the bars and cafes that catered to them, such as the legendary Better 'Ole, have mostly closed down. The Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) held its disbandment parade in 1995 at Gallipoli Lines (now prosaically renamed San Wai Camp). The ridge behind was known as Volunteer Slope, after the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps and the regiment's cap-badge, picked out in white-washed stones, can still be seen on the hillside.
