The South of England show

I’ve always liked the South of England Show at Ardingly ever since going there as a child. Looking at farm animals and climbing on farm machinery were guaranteed to keep me entertained.

I was there again on Saturday and it doesn’t seem to have changed much in the thirty-something years since I first went… which is an excellent thing, I think. There are probably more ‘craft’ stalls there (although I’ll confess that I appreciate a well-turned wooden hedgehog) and probably more franchisees attempting to sell assorted kitchen utensils and DIY products with their enthusiastic sales demonstrations – but overall it’s still about British farming and the countryside. Neither in-your-face rural evangelism nor bucolic apologies; just telling it like it is.



[Photo of fruit & veg display by Tilleys Farm, Turners Hill, for NFU ‘Meet the Farmer’ stand].