Sunday 17 August 2014

The Llanrwst Rural Show

 
Yesterday as soon as we had cleaned ourselves up and got changed from dealing with the concrete we set off for the Llanrwst Rural Show which is held every year in Llanrwst which is our nearest village/small town.
 
The folk were out in force, a nice mix of locals, neighbours and holiday makers filling the fields with the sounds of the farmyard, fairground rides, chatting farmers venturing off hill farms and meeting up with their neighbours for the first time in a while and of course lots of children having fun. 
 
 
There really was something for everyone, but of course this being a rural part of Wales the sheep were the biggest attraction.  Primped and preened to look their best, their woolly coats scrubbed, coloured and combed to show them off to their very best advantage.  Many rosettes were on display around the pens and lots of happy sheep owners were sat relaxing after the trials of the competition ring.

 
We took Charley with us but left the other two dogs at home.  Rosy finds this sort of thing a bit stressful and Suky is not coping well with the hot weather and is currently only having short walks.  We wanted Charley, however to be exposed to all the noise, smells and sights of the show field.  It worked a treat and after a nervous, shivery start she settled down and took it all in her stride.
 
It did mean though that every six yards we were accosted by folk asking all about her and cooing over the 'little puppy'.  She was cuddled by a whole family of small children, much admired in the beer tent and got us speaking to so many people it was lovely.

 
We showed her all the animals both large and small, and introduced her to every dog we came across, which of course meant we heard lots of doggy tales from fellow dog lovers.  It made for a very pleasant few hours.

 
Of course I couldn't leave without having a good look at the competition tent to see the standard of the local entries and to see if I should be tempted to take part next year.

 
Lots of lovely eggs ....

 
... some homemade bread ...

 
and lots of tasty looking pies and shortbread were just some of the exhibits.  There was also of course table after table of vegetables and novelty makes by the local children, as well as a wonderful photography competition and a vast display of hand knits and makes by the local branch of the WI.  But I didn't get to photograph all of them as we were stopped over and over again by people interested in Charley.

 
Seeing all that lovely food on display made me go a bit mad in the food tent, buying us some Bara Brith, some very tasty little Welsh Cakes, a pack of digestive style crackers to go with cheese for supper tonight, and a lovely handmade white loaf to pop in the bread bin ready for toast in the morning, but it's nice to support some of the local businesses and then we won a lovely wall hanging tile on the Tombola stall that was raising money for the local Air Ambulance.
 
So a lovely relaxing few hours after a hard mornings work, some tasty treats to eat at home and an educating day out for Charley.  Can't be bad :-)
 
Sue xx

15 comments:

  1. Charley has some tales to tell the rest of the gang!
    Jane x

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    1. They were proper jealous when we got back :-)

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  2. That looks like a really good local show. We have village flower/veg show and Giant Suffolk Show and nothing in between.
    It's going to be lovely watching that puppy grow.

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    1. She's already twice the size and twice the weight she was when we got her, she's growing fast!!

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  3. It's a good idea to socialise pups like this. We did it with the pup we got at 8 weeks and she's really relaxed in any situation. The 'rescue' dog hadn't been socialised at all and gets really stressed in busy or unfamiliar environments. I remember carrying our pup around before she had her injections until she became too heavy (she is a gundog). I took her to busy high streets, to the school playground etc.

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    1. We slipped up and didn't socialise Rosy enough and she does get stresses in some situations, so we are determined not to make that mistake again.

      Although she was shivering with fear when we first got to the show, by the time we left she was relaxed and bright eyed.

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  4. Oh my, what memories. My friends parents used to take me with them on holiday to Betws y coed, way back in the 60s and we used to go to the village' hop' in Llanwrst. The show looks great, we went to our local one at Heckington a few weeks ago and had a great time. Like you I love to see the food and craft tents, so much talent and hard work is put in. Glad to hear that Charley enjoyed his debut there too.

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    1. She loved it, although the attention she got was a bit over the top, but she coped admirably and met loads of children which was something we really wanted to happen. We don't have any child visitors at home at the moment and we need her to be used to them for future guests of our holiday homes.

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  5. Just finished reading your entire blog (it took me a quite a while as you might understand) and enjoyed it very much. So nice to read about all the animals, your love for them and all the efforts taken by you and your LH in order to get where you are now: owning that lovely house in the Welsh countryside. All the painting, decorating, establishing gardens over and over again, pffffffff........
    Your Jack Russell is quite a character, isn't she? I like the breed very much. Yours has the same look in his eyes and patches on the back as my JR Oscar had. He sadly died yesterday, nearly 14 years old. Luckily his twin sister is still with us.
    I'll continue following your blog and wish you lots of succes with everything you try to achieve up there in stunning Wales. The both of you will certainly succeed.
    Kind Dutch regards,

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    1. Wow .... you glutton for punishment. I hope you have recovered from your mammoth read!!

      And pffffff just about sums up starting Our New Life in the Country three times ... Lol.

      Thank you for your kinds regards, and I hope you will continue to enjoy our adventures ... the best is yet to come!!

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  6. What a fun time... Our county fair starts for us at 6:30 AM on Friday to get the parade float ready for our church. Then the parade, the fair and a dance on Friday night!

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  7. Excellent socialising for Charley! She is such a cutie.

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  8. I could easily go to a country show every week if I could find them. Such a smashing social experience and exchange of info about all the important things in life.

    Jean x

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  9. Sounds like you had a great time. And perfect for Charley to get used to all the noise, animals and people.

    X x

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  10. What a lovely day out.
    Love the pick of Hubby and Charley too!

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