Manda and John came to stay for the weekend so we all went to The Three Counties Agricultural Show in Malvern. What a brilliant day! The tickets were £18 per adult but it was worth every penny.
We arrived about 11am and didn’t leave until 6pm when it closed, with the weather being exceptionally kind only raining heavily once. There were vintage tractor displays, steam engines and a display of forestry expertise.
In the marquees you could see rabbits, poultry and in the main Livestock area you could see all the bulls, cows and sheep. Towards the end of the day there was the Grand Parade of Livestock and we were all stood by the railings watching all the animals go past. It was fine for a while but they are such massive specimens on display and very vocal!
Not being a lover of cows I was like a yo-yo going backwards and forwards to the barrier, always checking out my escape route if one of them decided to make a bid for freedom! One of them had a definite grump on as he was walked down the line mooing loudly – thirty seconds later we saw him being brought back out of the ring rather briskly – definitely a wise decision…
Another one also tried it on, turning his handler round but the man showed him who was boss and they carried on with the show…
In the Main Arena they put on lots of displays but the one we watched was the Motorcycle Freestyle team, Bolddog Lings www.bolddog.com. We didn’t take any photos as we were too busy watching their display. How they manage to stay on the bikes, sorry stay alive while flying through the air performing acrobatic stunts and providing a running commentary is a mystery.
We also visited the Hare and Hound bar and availed ourselves of a pint of local cider, while looking through the programme seeing where we could go next. There were many trade stands too and the food hall was very impressive. The burgers and hot sausage rolls were excellent, especially the venison and wild boar.
Armed with lots of cheese, pies, cider and red wine we went back to The Millpond and had a lovely evening just chatting and spending time with each other. Manda and John left us on the Sunday to head back home and to a decent nights sleep. Manda bought a sleeping bag from Go Outdoors on Friday only to discover it was a child’s pink one so only her feet were warm!