Come to a County Show With Me!

Spring and Summer in England means that all manner of shows, fairs, fetes and traditional happenings are taking place all over the land. The County Shows - or Agricultural Shows are a big BIG part of English life. They are usually held during the week, which is why up to this point we have not been to a single show! No - not one. We always do these fun things together as a family, and during week DH works.

But this year a dear friend invited us to go along with her and her children. I jumped at the offer. So early - very VERY early this morning, we jumped into the car and made our way through the misty rainy Derbyshire Dales to our neighbouring county, Staffordshire, to meet our friend and get to the show nice and early.

Although the weather was simply - well, English - we had such a lovely time! There was so much to see, mostly agriculturally related of course. My favourite bit had to be the showing of the cattle. 

They all looked so smart, and the smell - oh it is lovely! Clean hay and the soft smell of cows. You probably think I am completely bonkers - but there you have it, I love the smell of farmyard animals (but not pigs :o)

I was delighted to see good old English-ness evident in the judging ring. If you look at the picture above, you will the judges at the back right hand side, just above the speckled black and white cow, are all wearing bowler hats. I love it! Truly, English tradition is alive and well!

We found this area very interesting, Traditional Country Crafts. In the picture above there was a competition on the go for the Farriers. they had a certain set amount of time to make a shoe - from scratch and then fit said shoe to their horses. The skill and hard work!

The last highlight for the girls was the mobile ringing unit. This was set up to invite people to experience what it was like to ring. The girls immediately wanted to have a go and the ringers on duty were thrilled to have such young ringers ring with them. It was a lovely way to end a lovely day!