Day out at Moreton Show

Once the end of the summer holidays, I seem to lose track of what’s on at weekends, and I always find Moreton in the Marsh Show comes around without me realising.  This year, the OH actually decided that he’d take some time off work (shock horror, it rarely happens) to take N.

Of course, he’d not reckoned on the fact that it clashed with first day back at swimming, so then I had to make sure that the OH agreed that we could get back in time.  There were other family members going, so at a push he could have stayed for longer, but by the time the crowds arrive just before lunch time, he’s usually ready to leave.

It’s quite handy as Moreton Show’s only about 25 minutes drive away, and we arrived around 10am.  Even though the show opened at 7am, presumably for the start of the livestock and the horse show components, we still had parking really close to the show.  It’s definitely worth arriving early just for that to avoid trekking for miles with a toddler.

Compared to the last time we went (admittedly quite a few years ago now), it was a lot bigger.  N was in tractor and vehicle heaven, as there were lots of agricultural dealer stalls  although I thought it was disappointing that none were letting children sit on the tractors or climb into the cabs.    There were sprayers, combines, mowers, gators, tractors of all kinds, and a combine.

Similarly the vintage tractors and motorbikes looked great, but were blockaded off by railings.  I can’t believe that they could really get damaged from a few people having a good look up close and a few children sitting on them.

The livestock showing’s a big part of this show, and wherever you turn, there’s always lots of events going on.  We checked out the sheep and various cattle breeds, but there was also poultry, some pigs, goats and then the horse show.  Our eldest nephew was riding in one of the classes in the main ring, but unfortunately we’d had to leave by the time he was on.  Can’t wait to hear how he did.

We mooched around the different areas (no chance for shopping when the OH’s with me though), dropped in for tea and biscuits at our vets’ and feed stands.  N’s face when he drank some orange and lemonade was a picture as he’d not realised it wasn’t squash.

There were the usual food stands, and my favourite, the food tent.  Lots of opportunities for taste testing, but we were short on time, so there wasn’t really time to browse properly and barge through the crowds.  I’d also decided that last time the ground was so bad that taking the buggy wouldn’t be a good idea (plus having his dad, would mean I wouldn’t need to carry N when he wanted carrying), but the ground was really dry and it would have been handy to have taken it with us.

As N was flagging, we bumped into his youngest cousin, so he seemed to perk up and they had a bit of a chase around.  A return to check out the livestock again before we had to make a move and head home to get to swimming.

As we were leaving and wandered back via the shopping stands, it had got really busy, so it was definitely a good idea to go early.  Plus we got the best of the weather – I felt like my cheeks were burning once we were back at the car, and it was really hot when we were walking round.  The clouds were just building up, and they did have some rain later on.  Good timing.

N had a great time.  Not only a chance to see all his favourite things, but also to spend some time out as a family.  He loves holding both of our hands and it’s really nice to see that, when usually it’s just me taking him out to places.

I must remember to put this weekend in the diary once next year’s calendar is up as it should definitely be one to visit each year.

Find out about other agriculture and county shows in my guide to them.