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Date : Wednesday 2nd August 2006. Location : The Cartmell Agricultural Show, Cartmell Village, South Cumbria, Uk. Reason for visit : An invitation from Stephen Siddall to meet his family and Ted their horse. People : Jo Hall, John Paterson, Ann, Stephen and Yvonne Siddall, Charlotte and Matthew. Weather : Overcast with occasional small showers, getting slightly more cloudy as the day progressed. Charlotte competing with her horse, Ted. |
Walking into the show ground past the competitors enclosure. The Cartmell Show is one of the larger agricultural shows of Lakeland. It is held on the racecourse grounds in Cartmell Village. Cartmell is famous for three things, its Priory Church, the Races, and Sticky Toffee Pudding. The Agricultural Show comes a close fourth. All the fun of the fair in one picture. The Sheep Judging pens in front, the commercial tents beyond, the bouncy castles at the back, and behind is the village Church in it's delightful Lakeland setting.
Our first priority was to find Stephen, Yvonne and family who had, after all, encouraged us along today. The arrangement was that we would phone if we couldn't find them. Trust O2 not to have coverage in the village ! Still John had a different mobile providers so between us we we were able to make contact and meet up in the competitors parking area. A 2 pm timetable for their next event meant that the four of us had time to walk around the show ground and see what else was happening. The Heavy Horse display in the main arena. Another Heavy Horse and it's foal. A climbing wall for the children, with a rather clever inertia safety line system which avoided the need for four people to belay four participants ! The object was to climb to the top (naturally) and ring the bell . . . Sounds familiar ? . . . yes that rings a bell ! The Industrial Tent where the local craft work was displayed and prizes competed for. There were categories ranging from Needlework and cookery, to photos, handwriting for the children, flowers and craft work. This exhibit won "Best in Show" A Falconry Display in one of the tents, where the organisers kindly allowed me in to photograph the birds close up. Unfortunately I was called away to see the horse events before I noted all the names of the different hawks, falcons and owls. These beautiful birds were not flying today but were still a delight to see. An Eagle Owl, un-phased by this amateur wildlife photographer.
Back out on the show ground, it was time for the start of the Hound Trailing event. The hounds follow an aniseed scent trail and compete with each other to be first home. In the arena, the line up for the Pony classes. Charlotte, Stephen's daughter, riding Ted in her class event : Mountain and Moorland ~ Large breed ~ Ridden. Her white Connemara pony was entered in the dressage event and succeeded in winning first prize ~ brilliant ! Click here or on the photo for a video of her winning ride. ( The video should open and play in your Windows Media Player. It may take a minute or so to download on slower connection speeds - please be patient )
Following her class win, she and the other winners also paraded in the ring for "Best in Show" but unfortunately without further success. Still, it was an excellent day out in South Lakeland, at one of the classic local shows. |
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