Agricultural Shows

[WestmorlandSausage]

Its agricultural show season (yey!)

Do you prefer the big shows such as the magnificent Westmorland County Show (biased) or the currently happening Royal Welsh or do you prefer the smaller local shows?

Has anyone ever taken on the WI in the industrial tent and won?

Any stories of 'within the rules' cheating or out right cheating?

Ahhhh I love the shows. Ruralness all bagged up in tents and charged out to the paying public

[EBearhug]

Medium ones. This is entirely biased by having grown up on the farm that hosted the local one for many years, and my mother was assistant secretary for much of my childhood, so I knew a lot about it, from laying out the first markers for the marquees, to it all going up in place, the signs going out, the catalogues being printed and stacked in Dad's office, sorting out the traffic signs and bollards, stewarding, being in the information tent, arranging the entries the night before (picking weed seeds out of the grain entries, putting up my photos and paintings and so on, shampooing the cattle), drinks in the members' tent, litter picking after it's all come down again. The wet years where they had to have tractors dragging traffic off the showground. And water. Dad was always having to deal with water problems, and less often, electricity.

The loos changed over the years, too - they're now all self-contained trailers. They used to be trenches dug in the field with sheds and planks with holes over - one glorious year, when all the marquees were being taken down, the marquee company's lorry was going up the slope out of the field and they didn't put the brakes on or something. Anyway, they ended up in the loo trench. When you're a poo-obsessed child (and most children go through that stage), it was one of the best things which happened. Grown-ups didn't see the entertainment value quite so much, I don't think.

On the day, there was all the waiting for the tents to open, so you could see if your prizes had won, and going round all the stalls to see how many freebies you could get (stickers and so on - very exciting when you're a child - the grownups just did boring stuff like have cups of tea/glasses of wine and talk) and asking Dad if we could just have another 50p to get something desperately important from a stall we'd seen. (More likely to get money from him than Mum.)

For me, the Show was more special than Christmas. It's on a different site and my parents are dead these days, so I've only been home for it a few times in the last decade or so.

We went to other shows too occasionally. I remember when I was very little, Dad was a steward on the cattle lines at the Bath and West, and he apparently shared a shepherd's hut/chicken shed or whatever they stayed in with someone who'd been a prisoner in Colditz. But they're not the same as the local one where you know loads of people.

[UniS]

Small to medium are my favourite.
Small village shows in the village hall where your prize winning cake might win you 30p and glory. I enter lots if veg and baking classes and normally manage a few certificates and win back my entry fee.
Medium size , a couple of fields, some gymkhana pony stuff, some dog racing and a parade of vintage tractors before the horses are shown off and the hunt bring all their hounds into the ring.I have entered veg and baking in this one too , managed a couple of thirds.

[WestmorlandSausage]

EBearhug thee is just something about them isn't there. An excited last day at school type feeling.

I love the smell of the animals and the livestock areas mixed with the smell of people and food and well trodden ground.

I enjoy the larger shows due to the sheer size but we always enter smaller shows too with sheep so I feel more a part of them than the larger ones.

[DramaAlpaca]

Oh, the Westmorland County Show! I used to love it as a child. I've no particular stories, but you've brought back lots of happy memories.

[Selks]

I used to be in the young farmers when I was 16 (goodness knows why not from a farming family or anything) and one year we decided to enter as many random classes at the local show as we could...and weirdly I scooped loads of prizes for things I had never even attempted before - first for junior stock judging, shortbread making, carving a block of soap (I made a frog! It was awesome) and plate of three matching vegetables. Happy days!

[Selks]

(They were onions, by the way, the matching vegetables...nicked from my Granddads allotment )

[PedlarsSpanner]

Big and small have their myriad charms

Hugely pissed orf that we forgot the Cheshire Show in June, duhhr

We like the one at Builth Wells (on now!) and Usk Show is super-dinky, I just want to put it in my pocket

Pig-racing, duck-herding, venison-sausaging, scurry-racing, honey-tasting fun. Even if it rains.

[victoryinthekitchen]

Best one we've been to was the Galloway country show, loads to do and the sun shone all day which was a true bonus! The food tent was fantastic, yum ... Unfortunately our last trip to the Lowther show was extremely wet, people were literally sliding around in the mud but the dog display was fantastic!

[Butkin]

Love going to Agricultural/County Shows. My favourites in order:

South Suffolk
Suffolk
New Forest
Stithians
Rutland
Kent
Went to Surrey this year but it rained heavily so can't give assessment.

Don't get to the Northern ones or the ones too far Westerly.

South Suffolk is perfect mix of agriculture, equine, marquees, fun fair etc and is classic one day show.