I love this show because it's never too big, there's plenty going on, plenty of places to sit, plenty of stalls to wander around and most importantly plenty of choice of food stalls.
I had an excellent hog roast from the hard working people at Oak Tree Farm, their home grown, rare breed pork is just divine. The 'cafe' tent was great value at £1 for a cuppa and £1 for a piece of homemade cake with a choice of five. I even brought home some scrummy homemade fudge, which was devoured within minutes.
The vast array of stallholders was diverse, but all linked in their cottage industry style; blacksmiths, wood carvers, fleece's for sale, poultry for sale, numerous plant stalls, even Home farmer magazine came over to join us (one of my favourites); many of them rebooked for next year already.
Question and answer sessions were scheduled for twice throughout the day, the resident vet being on site, plus Norfolk Smallholder committee members available for members of the public to ask any sort of questions they like, be it animal, vegetable or even mineral!
Animals were well represented. A poultry stand with assorted breeds for which the public could vote for their favourite. Goats, both meat and dairy varieties were in attendance, heavy horses, alpacas, a fine looking jacob ram, turkeys and ducks were all available for the public to approach, ask questions and generally learn about; their owners proud to be showing off their specimens.
A few photo's of the day -
The impressive bread stall
For the sheep shearing demonstration
Norfolk black turkeys
British Toggenburg nanny
British Alpine kids
The fun dog show
Blacksmiths forge stallholder
Chainsaw wood carving
The Fabulous Fleece company stall
Poland chickens
A fine Jacob ram
Boer goat kids
A British Alpine nanny
Alpaca walking!
The overall opinion of the Norfolk Smallholders committee was one of delight; approximately 2500 people came through the gates, going home with excited but tired children having had a fun day; approximately 50 new members were signed up with a few more taking membership forms home. Bernard Ashe - press officer, said - 'most people said what a nice, friendly, enjoyable show it was, not huge but children could still wander without getting lost. All in all the committee is very happy.'
Glad the weather was better than last year. We took second-hand smallholding/country books to sell and the heavens opened at3pm and everyone packed up and went home! Not selling books any more and couldn't have gone anyway due to HO health scares. Plus it was further away from us compared to Holt last year.
ReplyDeleteThe weather was lovely, and the place was packed, it was a joy this year, really enjoyed it - surprised myself I think!
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