The Lincolnshire Show*

I went to school in a rural area and our regular, annual school trip was to The Lincolnshire Show. I loved it, being a horse-mad kid I spent most of the day hanging around the horses (I once saw Michael Whittaker - my teen claim to fame) rather than doing any discernible 'work'. Since leaving school I haven't made it to the Show - the local gundog club used to try to get me involved when I sat on the committee but I was always too busy at work to take a day off

Now that I can be slightly more flexible with my time, I was delighted to be invited along this year and roped in Matt and Forrest to make it a real family day out

I am immensely proud of my home county, not just because it's such a stunningly beautiful place but because we have such a diverse range of talents here. As a predominantly agricultural county, we know our livestock and we certainly know our food! But as well as the livestock classes, the parade of hounds, the mounted games and the drool-inducing food court and demo kitchen, the Show also showcases many other attractions such as horticulture, fashion, chainsaw sculpture, even a motorbike display team. It even has the RAF Falcons freefallling 12,000 feet into the main arena!

We were up and on our way bright and early, with the car filled with baby gear, as seems now to be the way. We arrived and made our way to the food section, obviously

Brockleby's Award Winning Pies

One of Matt's customers was there with the hog roast set up I have heard so much about (apparently we are having one in the garden for all the neighbours when the house is finished!) 

Oak Tree Farm Hog Roast

With a goodwill bun in our hands we settled down to appreciate the beauty of a good hog roast - steaming hot, melt in the mouth pork slathered in apple sauce and finished with stuffing

Forrest even tried a bit of pork and was soon shouting for more!

Suitably full, we continued on our merry way around the food stands, stopping to sample (and buy) some delicious cheeses from Lymn Bank Farm

Their 'Just Jane' mature cheddar is one of the best I've tasted (and I've tasted a few!) and is being sold to raise money to get Just Jane, a Lancaster Bomber, back into the skies of Lincolnshire. 

They also produce 'coal cheese' - a cheddar which includes charcoal, making it jet black. Not one you'd want to get stuck in your teeth!

In fact, we spent an indecent amount of time hanging around the cheeses and preserves

Cote Hill Cheeses

A Little Luxury

But it wasn't long before the lure of tea browsing became too much to bear

The Real Tea And Coffee Company

And I reintroduced Matt to the joys of iced coffee

We wandered on, taking in the atmosphere and stopping to look at whatever took our fancy. There was literally so much to see and do, and so many people to speak to - it seemed like everyone we knew was in attendance, including most of our neighbours! Forrest's little eyes were almost on stalks, I think it might be the most exciting thing he's ever done!

After admiring the birds of prey we stumbled across the Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association stand and I was fascinated by the dozens of uses for honey and beeswax

The Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association

I got chatting to a lady beekeeper at the B Skincare stand who explained to me that, though the company is based in Cornwall, they only use Lincolnshire beeswax in all of their products because of it's excellent quality and beautiful pale colour. See? Even our bees are talented!

I had time to sample some honey lemonade (delicious) before realising that it was Forrest's lunchtime. We found a patch of grass to settle ourselves on, popped Forrest's bib on and he enjoyed a spot of lunch

After a bite to eat and a quick nappy change we were off again, this time in search of the animals

The British Charollais sheep were lovely and friendly and had beautiful thick coats

I loved watching the showing classes, it reminded me of my teenage years when I used to spend as many weekends as possible polishing my pony and parading around a local show ring! But there's something so special about the heavy horses, maybe because my mum loved them too. Look at the little woolly foal!

I also spotted this cute cavalier puppy having a lovely day out

After all the horses it was only fair to do some more manly stuff for the boys, so we headed off to the main ring to watch the farm machinery display

All in all we had a fantastic day and I'd highly recommend The Lincolnshire Show as a family day out. I was a bit worried about how we'd get on with a baby but babies and children were really well catered for and the ground was super easy to navigate with the pushchair. I'd like to thank the organisers for their kind invitation and for a wonderful day out

Have you been to any county shows this year? What's your favourite part? It's all about the food and animals for me, as you can see!