Great Yorkshire Show

Our travels today took us to the Great Yorkshire Show, the largest agricultural show in England.  There are some similarities to the Texas State Fair but some significant differences that make some of the different parts of the show more integrated than a typical state fair experience in the U.S.  One major difference is that where the Texas State Fair lasts three weeks, the Great Yorkshire Show lasts only three days which compresses all the activities and events together so that a large number of events are happening simultaneously.  But it meant being able to see a wide variety of things today.

As an agricultural show the emphasis was on farming, raising animals, and cheesemaking  We started with the displays of flowers, vegetables and fruits with some amazing color.

Flowers were everywhere, including some flower boxes and gardens designed for competitions.  The one below featured another yellow bike in a Tour theme, created by a primary school:













Some of the flower displays were unusual, such as this one of carnivorous plants in flower:

We saw horses first, some in stalls, some being judged, and others in the horse jumping.  At the Yorkshire show the animals are given right of way over people.  This one was on the way to the arena for horse jumping.

Others awaited the judging in their stalls, such as this Percheron (a draft horse) who managed a smile as the picture was snapped.  This horse was massive and shook the ground when he stamped his feet.

The sheep were in a different area, although we saw a few in a show about the different sheep breeds in Britain.

In the three days there were to be several displays of dogs, with an emphasis on hounds which are often used for hunting.  These beagles were being judged, although it was a bit difficult to tell what the judges (in bowler hats) were looking for in them.  These reminded Richard and I of our Smith, who we lost to cancer earlier this year.

Finally, in one of the buildings was a quite serious cheese judging competition, again with white coats and very serious judges lending a very clinical perspective to cheese.  Attendees were able to sample the cheeses and many were amazing.  

In the end the experience was a fantastic exposure to the English countryside and its agricultural products that really help to drive the economy here.