Yesterday I went to day one of the Royal County of Berkshire show held at Newbury showground. This is an annual event and this year marks the 25th anniversary of the show being held at this venue and 101st anniversary of the show itself.
Whilst an agricultural event in the main, there was much to be enjoyed by all the family whether or not anyone is particularly interested in the countryside events or prize winning farm livestock and various equestrian classes. Apparently over 600 stall holders were present offering everything from tools (boys' toys) to jewellery and one-off fashion items (girls' toys!) and plenty for the younger members of the family as well.
I have always enjoyed a day out at the local agricultural shows from when I was very young and my father used to take me to the Oxted and Edenbridge show. Turning his back on me just for a few seconds the one time, he turned round to discover I had disappeared! Frantically searching round he couldn't see me anywhere but then his eyes were drawn to the hound pens where the various packs of foxhounds, beagles, bassetts etc were penned until it was their time to do a parade in the arena. Apparently he could see a lot of wagging sterns clustered around one spot and then glimpsed me sat on the ground thoroughly enjoying being in the midst of all these happy hounds. I don't even know how I got in with them and my father didn't either - still a mystery to this day! Over the years I have been to many such shows around the country and my children still love to go even though young adults themselves now.
This year my daughter and my best friend joined me and we started off by having a general meander around the livestock areas (to satisfy my daughter's love of pigs - as animals rather than as food I have to say) and watched a bit of judging of the beautiful Dexter cattle (I believe their meat is considered by many as superior even to Aberdeen Angus) and the pig class where it has to be said the pigs seemed to be the ones in control and their handlers just appeared to run desperately around with their pig boards trying to guide them round the judging ring! We also watched a show jumping class as both my daughter and I are equestrians too. Then it was on to the important (and main reason for me) task of finding the food tent and exploring the wares from some of the country's most important producers of fabulous well reared meats, lovingly produced cheeses, hand crafted cakes, pickles, chutneys, preserves, sauces and marinades. I love the food tents at shows like these - all that fabulous food and ingredients in one place and samples to try before buying.
One thing that was very much lacking this year though, much to my dismay, was there didn't seem to be many of the stall holders cooking their own sausages, burgers etc to serve to the hoards of hungry visitors. In years gone by I have always enjoyed the smells of this food cooking and then queuing up to have a Gloucester Old Spot "hot dog" - real sausages with flavour and meat content, not full of fillers and unidentifiable bits of floor sweepings as their main content.
This time I only saw one stand cooking their own sausages and burgers, one stand making paella and one selling their own produced hot pasties. Outside the tent and dotted throughout the showground were many fast food catering vans selling far less interesting and run-of-the-mill burgers and hot dogs, carvery rolls etc but how sad and disappointing that so few of the individual stands were selling off their own freshly cooked items this time.
Anyway, we had a lovely day out and I came home with some wonderful aged Balsamic vinegar dressing, some amazing pear and vanilla chutney (yes really, sounds strange but tastes great - the powerful first impression of vanilla giving way to the hit from the pear - yum) and some Barnsley cut lamb chops, an inch and a half thick which we shall have for dinner tonight - I've yet to decide how to do them and what to serve them with although I have got a pudding in mind already - lemon and raspberry "delicious" - the sort of pudding that separates during the cooking to produce a lovely light lemon sponge on top and a rich sauce below. Time to have a wander through some cook books and find a recipe befitting such fabulous lamb chops!
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