New Forest Show 2016

Hello everyone! 

I hope you are all looking forward to another sunny summer weekend. Although my holiday technically finished on Wednesday, we still had the New Forest Show on Thursday to be excited about. Every year people flock from all over to come to the New Forest Show. It's a 3 day livestock and agricultural show in the last week of July :-) It's always loads of fun, with hundreds of stands selling local produce, clothes, food and of course the livestock exhibitions. This was my third year going and we always have a great time there. 

These are some of the bits we got to nibble! Read on for more details...

A lot of people think it's all about the animals and farming, but it's actually just a really fun day out. Of course, with Mr.Gingersnap being an agricultural contractor we go for business as well as pleasure...but let's be honest I'm there for the food. I love the ambience there and seeing all our friends from Young Farmers Club.

 We spend a lot of time looking at machinery, Mr.Gingersnap loves it :-) 

This year we decided to go on the last day so we could make the most of the good deals and final day celebrations. We bought so much food! Sadly I was a bad blogger and didn't wait to take photos before we ate our treats. We had some delicious bourbon and chocolate orange cupcakes followed by some gorgeous macarons! They were from La Patisserie Macaron by Steven Lopez, we had some quite interesting flavours too: lemon and poppyseed, mint chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate and strawberries and cream. They were super yummy! What I can show you are the cheeses we bought from Black's. They did us a deal of three wheels for £10, which is great for how good they are. Last year we had some truly great flavours from them so we had to try their new ones. Little Winker, ale and mustard and Irish whisky and stem ginger tempted us the most along with a traditional mature cheddar. 

When we weren't buying food, we were sampling it. We had fudge, cheese, jam, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and various meats. We ended up coming home with some port and cherry jam, roasted tomato and cumin salsa, two more cheeses and some fudge. Yep, we are super greedy, but we need things for work packed lunches! Well, that's my justification anyway. 

 Sadly, it started raining so we headed into the tents! 

Other than the food, there are a great many crafts and art stalls, with amazing work. Mr.Gingersnap ended up getting a stool for our nephew with a really cute monkey hand-carved onto it and one with a zebra as a cheeky treat for me. Zebras are my favourite animal, so now I can keep my reading list books close at hand on a fabulous stool. The stools are from Made By Lo, who creates beautiful tailor made gifts. 

 The show also has a number of horse events for all you equine fans out there :-) 

When it comes to the animals, I promise you it is very safe and welfare friendly. There are vets on hand constantly in case they are necessary and to ensure all welfare requirements are met. It's a great way to discover new breeds and learn more about these very important creatures. Mr.Gingersnap's dad actually shows their sheep and stewards on the last day, which is why we have exhibitor tickets! 

All in all, whether you are into farming and agriculture or not it is a great summer day out with friends or family. I'd recommend anybody checking out local shows, they really are loads of fun! 

Have any of you been to shows or fairs? Let me know what you thought in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

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