Gargrave Show was another fantastic day out in our beloved Yorkshire - Jo Thorp

I can’t claim to have attended every one but I’m slowly working my way around the county!

Despite being busy and never seeming to catch up on jobs and most definitely never having time for a proper family holiday, these shows are our mini breaks and we do our absolute best to support them.

Last weekend saw the little guy and myself head up into the Yorkshire Dales to the beautiful grounds of Eshton Hall for Gargrave Show. It was our first visit and most definitely won’t be our last.

Eager to get there, we were almost the first to arrive and unload our sheep, giving us ample time to admire the setting for this long standing show.

Following a quick wander round and the obligatory sausage sandwich and Yorkshire tea, we headed back to give the Leicester girls a last minute wash and polish.

The pens were beginning to fill up, especially I noticed, much to my slight dismay, the Bluefaced Leicester ones.

It was pleasing to see such a great turnout but I feared disappointment was heading out way, considering some of the sheep that were now in the pens next door to ours.

Despite the stiff competition, the pair of us couldn’t help but smile. The sun was shining, we were in good company, doing what we love surrounded by breathtaking scenery. We were both in our element.

Everyone soon sprung into action, however, when the judge appeared and showing began. Our results were not half bad, considering the quality of the sheep there, and we came away with a few rosettes and certainly no red faces.

After watching the championship we headed over to the main ring where the first of the fell races was already under way.

It didn’t take long for the rosy cheeked runners to appear, amidst great cheers and clapping from the crowds of onlookers around the ring, leaving John-William wishing he’d entered the race.

The heavy horses stood majestic in the ring next door, their foals well grown and adorned with the same colourful ribbons as their dams.

We wandered through the superb display of vintage cars and machinery, admired the rows of cattle and ate some of the best chocolate brownies ever to have passed our lips!

All of this under the watchful eye of the majestic Eshton Hall. It proved to be another fantastic day out in our beloved Yorkshire.

Once home, I did some research about the history of the hall as I vaguely recall being told one of my Uncles had attended there when it was a boarding school in the fifties and sixties.

With further digging I was alarmed to read that the hall had in fact belonged to a family member, on my mother’s side, way back in the 1920s before being sold on, to eventually be converted into apartments.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of information you can dig up on the internet!