A BUMPER crowd turned out to celebrate the ‘perfect blend’ of traditional countryside pursuits and magnificent main ring entertainment at Sunday’s 140th Derbyshire County Show.
Thousands of visitors enjoyed the family-friendly event – which hasn’t been staged for two years due to the pandemic – at the 56-acre Elvaston Showground.
Crowds were entertained in the main ring by equestrian display teams, parades of heavy horses and Shetland Pony Racing as well as two death-defying performances from Stanage Stunt Team.
Children queued up to get up close and personal with giant tortoises, while others enjoyed donkey ride and even had the opportunity to take an alpaca for a walk.
Italian Bergamasco shepherd dogs.
Hundreds of hounds took part in the companion dog show, while performances from the lumberjack sports team the Welsh Axemen amazed onlookers.
There were lengthy queues at some of the county’s best food producers, including Project D, the MilkShake Shack, Tori and Ben’s Farm and Yiannis Greek Restaurant.
Visitors also enjoyed craft and trade stalls, floral displays and homemade cakes and jams from the Women’s Institute as well as a superb selection of vintage cars, from the majestic Rolls-Royce to the humble Austin 7, a parade of tractors, lorries, steam engines and machinery from a bygone era, which have been lovingly restored by genuine enthusiasts.
Classic cars at the county show.
The show’s secretary Claire Bowman said: “It’s too early for us to say if this was a record crowd, but we are absolutely delighted that the people of Derbyshire turned out to support us.
“The entire day is organised by a group of hard-working volunteers and it is quite literally a year-long project, so we are thrilled to have such a fantastic turn-out on the day itself. It has been such a long time since our last show, which was in 2019, and it feels very special to be altogether once again.
“We really did have something for every member of the family, it’s a perfect blend of farming and fun, and thankfully the weather was great too.
“I think we all deserve a few days to recover and then we’ll start planning for next year – which we hope will be even bigger and better than this year.”
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