Arriving at the showground at 08.30 gave us the opportunity to orientate ourselves and decide which parts of the show we wanted to focus on. Inevitably, the food show was the main attraction! The main hall was packed with businesses and people we have been admiring from afar through the wizardry of Twitter and some new discoveries too. We introduced ourselves to Justin from Shepherds Purse, Chilli Jam Man, Matthew from Toppings and quite a few others. As the only one in our party not on a special diet, it fell to me to be the chief taster - a tough job but someone had to do it!! Pies, cheeses, cakes, bread, oil.... spoilt for choice. It's easy to see why Yorkshire is renowned for the quality and variety of its produce.
The produce hall where the cheese and dairy judging had taken place was also a joy to behold as you can see from the photos below.
Notwithstanding the fantastic food on offer the highlight of the show was most definitely all the different livestock. Their handlers taking great pride to make sure that their charges looked immaculate constantly grooming, brushing and cleaning. The beef cattle in particular were a personal favourite. Any guesses as to how many steaks and burgers you would get from this beauty?!
Just before we headed off after a long and very enjoyable day we stopped by one of the show rings. I have always loved horses though I find their flightiness and skittishness unnerving. This beauty gave everyone the run around for a few minutes once he had slipped his harness. He revelled in his temporary freedom eating the grass and playing chase with the stewards. I was particularly proud of this shot which shows the true spirit of such a beautiful creature. Enjoy!
