Alwinton Border Shepherding Show

 There were lots of classes in the tent and after the judges were finished we had a look to see who has won, this was the most surprising! Decorate a Wellington Boot - this chicken was fabulous!

 If you didn't have a boot to decorate, how about a potato? Something of a bird theme going on here :)

 Some beautiful flower displays, many more than I can show here I'm afraid.

 The walking sticks were something to behold, shame you can't get close enough for a really good view.

 What is a country show without a giant leek or two and in this case three.

 Great entries in the carrots too.

 Fabulous onions.

 Parsnips like you've never seen - I wonder what they taste like, I like parsnips :)

 And you need a certain vegetable growing skill to get 5 different veg to this standard.

 Don't forget the tomatoes!

Well, due to the weather the show looked better from inside the tents. It did get slightly better as the day went on but you can't expect too much at the beginning of October.

The local school put on a beautiful display and the children entered their own set of classes in handwriting.

 Mosaic pots and paintings all beautifully decorated and displayed.

 The standard of photographs and pictures was very high and very impressive.

 As were the quiches, scones, pies and cakes.

The lemon curd is a personal favourite but there were jams and pickles and marmalade too.

 Elsewhere even the dogs were dressed for the weather.

 The local spinning guild were there and taught Katy to make a braid which she found fascinating.

 More of those well dressed hounds, they were definitely ready for the weather as were their owners.

 Luckily a little rain can't stop a small girl from enjoying her hotdog.

 The pipers were playing up a storm of a different kind

 and they all looked the part and put on a great show.

 I only saw one pair of what looked like hand knitted socks, though I could be wrong, I hope.

 This little fellow looked like he wished he had one of those dogs coats.

 Happily there were plenty of sheep.

 Even if we couldn't get at the cake we could admire it.

 Of course the highlight of the day for me was the knitting and some surprising winners and runners up and sadly too many classes where only a few entries meant that every one got a prize.

 This one got a special mention with the information that it would have won but for the fact that it was a cardi and the class was for jumpers :(

 A knitted shepherd has to be a winner although Katy thought the dog just out of shot was a better choice!

 I also really liked the pencil drawings so I thought I'd show you those too.

There was some woollen and worsted handspun knitting and spinning yarns but my batteries ran out :( there were fewer classes and fewer entries. Later in the day there was Cumberland wrestling which I photographed a couple of years ago here -

I enjoy watching this but Katy was bored by now and the weather was still very wet so we came home. Next year I take 2 sets of batteries!