A sunny outlook needed as show nears

“Shall we meet in the Tennant Arms?” said Robert Lambert somewhat resignedly, but still bright and cheery on the phone as darkness descended like a heavy black curtain at 3.45pm on Tuesday.

Robert is chairman of the Upper Wharfedale Agricultural Society and as such he is in charge of Kilnsey Show, the biggest Dales show of all and, at the time of our meeting, it was just seven days away.

Five minutes in and a call from home sends Robert scurrying back to Mile House Farm in Conistone-with-Kilnsey. His kitchen is flooded. “I’ll be ten minutes”, he says.

Half an hour later he returns. Kathy, Robert’s wife, who is also secretary of the show, has the situation under control, or at least that’s the gist, although only Kathy would be able to confirm her feelings at the time.

Robert has the resilience and eternal optimism that seems a prerequisite if you are to shoulder the expectancy of all in the lead-up to show-time, especially this year when so many other shows have fallen by the wayside.

His father moved here from Bainbridge in Wensleydale in 1957 when Robert was just seven-years-old and he’s been to the show every year since.

He’s in no doubt that it will take place on Tuesday, come hell or high water, and there has been a great deal of the latter, but he’s also used to making tough decisions and he’s already had made one big call in 2012.

The hill farm, which he ran in partnership with his father until he passed away in 2000, runs to around 1,200 acres. In May of this year he came out of dairying due to a combination of poor milk price, old equipment that needed updating and solo dairying.

“The main reason I came out of dairy farming was lack of labour. I ended up milking on my own twice a day for 18 months. It was just so labour intensive and I’m not getting any younger.

“We have three daughters, but they’re not that interested that they want to milk cows twice a day.

“It was very sad and it really hurt for the first month or so. I’ve milked cows since I was 11 years old and I had pet names for some of them.”

Robert’s main enterprise is Swaledale sheep. He runs a flock of 700 ewes, but he is also currently developing a suckler herd and still has three years of dairy replacements coming along.

“I’m milking the newly-calven heifers before they go to market at Skipton but our future is now in sheep and cattle.”

Robert and Kathy’s immediate future is the show on Tuesday, which Robert admits takes over their life in the run-up to it.

“Kathy started helping out as secretary about five years ago. It was meant to be for just one year but she’s still doing it and she does an excellent job. Shall we say there is a little friction every now and again, but she does say it’s the only way she gets to see me.

“One of the biggest problems any show has is the parking of cars and vehicles getting on and off the showground. We now have a network of roads on the show field. It’s a circular route designed to make sure vehicles don’t need to turn around to get out.

“But we don’t have poor weather at Kilnsey all the time. We had a good day last year and we’ve had some really hot days.”

The cattle and sheep classes are the true hallmark of any agricultural show and Kilnsey attracts showmen from far and wide. Because of its location it has become the doyen of northern sheep shows and winning in the Swaledale, Mule and Blue Faced Leicester classes is a real feather in the cap.

“Judges and competitors tell us that we have a better sheep show than the Great Yorkshire, particularly in these class. To be fair we are right in the heart of sheep country and it offers breeders a real shop window to all of their prospective buyers.”

The fell races are legendary and Kilnsey has by far the best commentator of any show in Roger Ingham. His words as the runners come down Kilnsey Crag are worth the entry money alone.

“We’re always trying to think of something new to avoid the show going stale, but it will always maintain its presence as an agricultural show. We don’t want to turn it into a tin pot alley, but you have to have things for everyone. Last year we added the Farming For Real tent, promoting agriculture in the hills. This year we have a cookery theatre with leading chefs from hotels around here using food produced from the Dales. There’s also a children’s tent, sponsored by Peel Entertainment from Broughton Hall, where children will be shown how to make bread.”

Fittingly though, by the time Robert and I re-emerged from the Tennant Arms the clouds had gone, the rain had abated and the showground was bathed in sunshine.

“It’s always like this here,” he says, quickly grabbing his chance. “Now I’d better get back home. I’ve just one or two things to sort in the kitchen!”

Kilnsey Show takes place on Tuesday, August 28.

Show diary

Other shows taking place this week:

Today – Saturday, August 25:

Malhamdale Show

Bilsdale Show

Wensleydale Show

Monday, August 27:

Burniston Show

Farndale Show

Wednesday, August 29:

Reeth Show.