My Yorkshire Show, by Harry Gration and Paul Hudson (VIDEO)

ON the second day of the Great Yorkshire Show, with the sunshine breaking through betweeen showers, TV presenters Harry Gration, Paul Hudson, Chris Kiddey and Jon Mitchell tell why they love Britain's foremost agricultural showcase.

The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution is 150 years old and its North Yorkshire branch is trying to give a flavour of the 1860s on its stand at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Derrick Slater, who has diversified into antiques restoration on his farm at Plumpton Hall, Studley Roger, near Ripon, is working in a mock-up of a farm carpentry workshop from the mid-1800s.

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Yesterday, he was making a start on a gate he will build by cutting a mortice hole for a cross rail in a seasoned oak post, using mallet and chisel. Nowadays, the wood would usually be tannalised softwood and a machine would cut the mortice, saving a lot of sweat and blisters.

If Mr Slater's hand slips, he has the comfort of wearing antique corduroy trousers of the kind which used to be advertised as "capable of withstanding a sabre blow". Modern cords are a much lighter and cheaper.

"I don't know if you can still buy trousers like this," he said. "I was lucky enough to find mine in a cupboard. They probably date from the First World War."