If someone had told me when I was twenty that in my 40's I would be entering jams and suchlike for a village show I think I would have died. It would have smacked so much of housewifely-ness, of domestic bliss and boredom but there I was on Sunday morning rushing to get all our entries to the village show on time. You should have seen the place - Tom was running around digging up everyones vegetables, Amber was putting the finishing touches on her shortbread and various pictures she'd entered, Rohan was doing a quick painting, Raj was washing his carrots and I was icing my carrot cake and trying to decide whether to enter a pair of socks or a knitted jersey. Phew. I did keep telling everyone not to take it too seriously but we are obviously a competetive lot. So off went the entries - there by 10am and we went along in the afternoon to see the results.
Shows like this took place in most villages in times past. A few years ago we came across the Nevern Show in Wales whilst on holiday in the area. It was one of the best days out we have ever had. Much larger than the one we attended on Sunday, the Nevern Show had cattle, sheep, horses. You can see for yourself by clicking on the link. I got talking to one of the sheep owners and he offered me a fleece from his ryedale sheep for nothing that day so I was proper pleased. When I was young we used to go to the Royal Show with the school and in those days it was smaller and quainter. I used to love seeing all the animals, it was so different to my city upbringing. I went back to the Royal Show as few years ago but it was hell - huge, commercial, naff you name it.
So on Sunday afternoon off we went to one of the prettiest villages around here. The horticultural entries were in someones barn, the handicrafts in the quaint village hall, there was tea on the lawn and games and sideshows in someones huge garden. After spending a bit of money we raced off to the various places to see what we had won.
2nd prize for Raj for his carrots.
3rd prize for Raj for his sunflower.
3rd prize for Amber for her shortbread.
2nd prize for me for my carrot cake.
3rd prize for Amber for her Amigurumi giraffe.
Rohan won 2nd prize for his last minute painting and Tom won 2nd prize for a photograph. There were other prizes but I forgot to take pictures of them. So you can see that five happy people returned home that day to eat shortbread and cake (and prize carrots in the car).
such a clever family! congratulations to you all!
Posted by: prairiemouse | August 03, 2006 at 11:54 AM
Congratulations on your prizes - I just came over from Bitter Betty Blogs and Have spent a really enjoyable goodness-knows-how-long reading your blog - what a find!
Posted by: Ali | August 03, 2006 at 01:08 PM
Congratulations all round. Well done to the family. You must all be very proud of your winning efforts!
Posted by: Lindsey | August 05, 2006 at 06:27 PM
Congratulations on your sucess!!
Posted by: weirdbunny | August 09, 2006 at 08:58 PM
Hello again - we've just had our village show, vegetables and cakes and all so I loved this entry. Looks like I'll be working my way through your whole blog soon and will put in a link from Ash's blog (Dog in the Workhouse)
Posted by: Lindsay | August 21, 2006 at 10:23 PM