A whole new ring, with new attractions in it! See ponies put through their paces in the thrilling Mounted Pony Club Games and the Shetland Pony Racing – think traditional sports day on pocket rocket ponies!
Field to fork
Tradition comes alive as the colourful vintage tractor parade trundles a timeline of heritage through the main ring while the Steam Engine Section offers all the sights and smells of the past. Your little ones will love a free ride on pedal tractors in the Fabulous Food & Farming Area – this hands-on area traces the journey of food from field to fork with fun and interactive elements.
rural life
Rural pursuits are at the heart of the show – we have been showing Dorset agriculture, countryside and rural life for more than a century. During your visit you can enjoy close-up milking demos, watch sheep shearing displays, see gun dogs in action, enjoy the falconry and laugh at the ferret racing in the Countryside Ring.
This month Andrew Livingston is taking a nostalgic stroll through the Dorset County Showground
Andrew (left) with his big brother at a local Show
As a young child, the news that ‘Dorset County Show is this weekend!’ was always met with sadness. Never a reflection on the show, I hasten to add – it simply signalled the final weekend of the school summer holidays. Every year, in the days leading up to the show, I would be dragged by my mother to Dorchester or Yeovil to buy new school uniform. “I don’t need to go back to school!” I would protest (thankfully my mother knew better than me). Some of my earliest memories are of exploring the county showground, walking around in the shadow of my Dad – he was a feed rep for Mole Valley Farmers, and would alwaysbe working on the day. Well – he would refer to it as work, but what he called ‘networking’ just looked like listening to farmers moan to me. Why were they so miserable? They worked outdoors and they didn’t have the threat of going to school next week! How naïve I was. If I’d known then what I know now about the struggles of modern farming I would have suggested they start writing a column in The BV magazine to air their grievances. I certainly find it therapeutic these days!
Andrew’s Dad Guy was a feed rep who had a stand at the local shows – back when an agri stand was a caravan with awning
Times change For so many at the show, this is their one big day out of the year. Some are up every day at the crack of dawn milking, while others have been contracting evry hour they can through the summer in a mad rush to earn every penny possible. And for hours on end, my Dad would be at the Mole Valley stand, handing out cups of tea and chatting with these farmers. (I’ll be honest, standing next to him – and eating all the biscuits, obviously – the conversations went straight over my head. Not because of the content – I simply couldn’t understand a word they said in their deep Dorset dialect.) Eventually, I got older and was finally trusted to roam the site on my own. I would meet with friends and only return to my dad to reach into his pockets and steal another handful of change to spend on sweets or carnival games. When my dad’s pockets eventually emptied, the game became who could collect the most and best freebies from the stands. Simply listen to a vendor’s spiel for two minutes and scamper off with your thousandth pen of the day. What was my greatest freebie of all time you ask? I’m too polite to say. But I will say that I got it from the NHS stand and, since about the age of 13, it’s had pride of place in every wallet I’ve ever owned, but has never been touched. It’s all changed now. My days of going to the show and picking my Dad’s pocket are long gone – instead my own pockets get swiftly empties by my two small children. Thinking about it … maybe I should have used my favourite Dorset County Show freebie at some point. It would have saved me a fortune on school uniforms in the future!
Meet Dorset’s soap star Kirsty Hearne – creator of a thriving cottage industry selling goats’ milk and the soaps she makes from it
Most of us nip to the local shop when we run out of milk. Not Kirsty Hearne – she pops down the garden and milks one of her 13 goats. The result is ‘foamy and makes just the best coffee,’ she says. ‘Raw goat’s milk is great for your gut and full of good bacteria.’ She has seen a huge increase in sales from her garden gate to both locals and holidaymakers. ‘Last winter I had to limit people to five litres each, I just couldn’t keep up with demand. Especially with so many people making their own kefir.’ Her Maycottage milk – and her range of beautiful handmade soaps – began life accidently 14 years ago. ‘I bought a goat and her daughter just for the milk for my family. I was up the pub, chatting to a friend about how we might make some extra money, as you do. I’d heard that you could make soap with goats’ milk and said I was going to have a go.
Honeybee having a happy moment All images: Kirsty Hearne
‘So I started making some and going to craft fairs. I quickly discovered that I was quite creative about dressing the soaps and the stall. I use baskets, flowers and plants to create the cottage-like backdrop of where the soaps come from – it’s a pretty idyllic lifestyle look.” Kirsty then invested in an online shop. ‘I now post soaps all over the UK – particularly to Scotland. I’ve no idea why the Scots love it so much!’ Her soaps are also sold in shops in Wimborne and Bournemouth. Now from a single goat, she has a herd and business is booming. ‘I’d been a riding instructor for 30 years and thought this would give me something to do when it’s raining or through the winter. It was just supposed to be a sideline! But it swiftly took over and I actually gave up teaching.’ Her real life cottage home epitomises a genuine cottage industry. She milks all her ‘girls’ by hand, and mornings are always early. Sometimes as early as 4am if Kirsty’s at a rural show or market that day. Her goats are all registered British Guernseys and Toggenburgs. They enjoy idyllic free ranging with the chickens, and at night they sleep in stables at the bottom of the garden. They’re given no antibiotics, chemical wormers or vaccinations. ‘I only use homeopathic methods,’ says Kirsty, who’s also trained in Reiki for animals. It seems to be working – she hasn’t needed a vet for three years.
‘My girls have very different characters. There’s a fierce hierarchy and Honeybee, 13 years old and still going strong, is the matriarch. Chilli, my latest addition, is very pesky. She follows me everywhere and is so nosy.’ But don’t goats have a reputation for being a tad petulant? Kirsty says: ‘You can’t make goats do anything they don’t want to. Patience is essential. You need softness, to ask them nicely. If you pull or drag them, they simply dig in their heels and win!’
Every Maycottage soap contains 25 per cent goats’ milk along with a gorgeous variety of natural scents, all concocted by Kirsty. Her neroli orange blossom is proving a favourite this year. She believes goats’ milk soap is so popular because it’s extremely kind to skin conditions. ‘Eczema, psoriasis, sensitive skin – my soap is incredibly gentle and moisturising. It’s the same pH as your skin and it also contains 30 per cent olive oil which is anti-inflammatory.
Repeat customers tell me that it makes such a difference to their skin issues. It’s not a cure, obviously, but it helps keep the skin in better condition. And my soap doesn’t have all the chemicals that commercial soaps contain.’ Kirsty makes all the soaps at her kitchen table, packaging them in pretty fabric tied with rustic twine. Using the traditional cold-pressed method, soaps are poured into loaf moulds and rested for 48 hours before being carefully cut up and then left in the spare room to cure for four weeks. ‘It used to be my son’s bedroom, so I was glad when he moved out!’ says Kirsty. ‘It can get lonely working from your kitchen table. My other half, Keith, works all day so I can get to 6pm and have only spoken to goats or my dogs all day!’
Quick fire questions: A-list dinner party guest? American horse trainer Mark Rashid – Aikido for horsemanship is a big part of his work. It’s about softness, and works with goats as well as horses! He’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.
Book by your bedside? Curlew Moon by Mary Colwel. It’s about the plight of these beautiful birds and their struggle for survival.
Rachel Jeffries uses vibrant, planet-friendly fabrics from Rajasthan to make ethical and comfortable clothes for her local customers
Rachel Jefferies modelling her Harper dress
Natural dyes and fair working conditions are all-important in Rachel Jeffries’ clothing. She brings the brilliant colours of an Indian bazaar to Dorset – a journey that begins deep in rural Rajasthan. She has travelled into the heart of India, both figuratively and physically, to learn how the clothes she sells are produced. She has stalls at the monthly Sherborne and Shaftesbury markets, and is stocked in a shop in Frome. In the winter months she returns to Jaipur, where she designs her fabrics and clothing range. And the rest of that paragraph goes. where she designs her fabrics and clothing range. Her stall is easy to spot – the riot of vibrant colour brings the bright shades of an Indian bazaar to Dorset. For ten years, Rachel had an Indian textiles emporium called House of Eunice on London’s South Bank. ‘During those years I went on an amazing journey. I wanted to travel to the source of my textiles rather than using middle men. I wanted to see where the money was going,’ she says. ’There are some incredibly talented artisans but often they only get a pittance for their work. Whenever I travelled to India I took an extra excursion, into the interior. I wanted to bring back the story. ‘I saw what was happening on the ground, and the more I saw the more I was motivated to work within a fair trade ethos. These are the real core values of my business. ‘I effectively gave myself an apprenticeship in how to make clothes. I’m totally self-taught. At first I bought some clothes off the peg from Indian wholesalers, but the fit just wasn’t right. The fabric was beautiful but the fit just wasn’t there. For example, Western women have broader shoulders. And as we age, there are body parts that we’re sensitive about. I quickly realised that I needed to design clothes to cater to my western customers. Through necessity, I learned to make patterns.’
Jaipur Joy’s Bengali housecoats, featuring the Kantha stitching that imitates monsoon rainfall
Kinder processes When the lease on Rachel’s London shop ran out, she decided to relocate to Frome, just before Covid hit. After lockdown, her business continued to evolve with a rebrand to Jaipur Joy and she sold direct from market stalls. Her direct contact with India has helped her in developing her business and given her a second chance, she says. Her focus is on the environment and the impact of the clothing industry. She sees countless examples of poor working conditions in India and is determined to work fairly and directly with the artisans. ‘I discovered ugly dyeing processes, such as an acid-based bath where workers were operating barefoot and had no protection. It has a terrible impact on both the people and the environment. I felt that there had to be a better way – I didn’t want my fabrics to depend on these processes. Then I found a wonderful community of printers who work in a more humane way, using natural dyes. They bake the designs on the fabric using rollers in an oven. Fabric gets through the rollers in five minutes and it fixes the dyes. ‘I also work with artisans who are using plant enzyme technology, which is far kinder to the environment. Significant amounts of water are used in the process and a lot of dyes end up in rivers. I’m working with artisans who use a natural process – they’re using the calla lily in the water, because it produces natural enzymes which effectively ‘eat’ the waste material, making the water almost drinkable so it can then be reused. It is much cleaner. That’s really important in a desert state like Rajasthan.’
Rachel’s colourful stall on Abbey Walk at the monthly Shaftesbury Market
Madamji Jaipur is famous for its colourful sandstone buildings, earning it the name of The Pink City. It inspired Rachel to design an initial capsule collection of clothing,and, to her amazement, she sold out of the six designs and four colours. Rachel loves Jaipur: ‘There’s so much beautiful architecture, and the history of the Mughals, the Maharajahs, the palaces, the art … and, of course, the people. They are so warm and joyful.’ When Rachel started working with artisans she encountered several people greeted as masterji – a term of respect for a male teacher. ‘You really have to work with a masterji. There is a masterji for printing, for dyeing and for pattern cutting. They are the experts and they command significant respect. You need your masterji to get things done. In fact, when I was there they called me madamji!’ The patterns and processes of some of Rachel’s textiles are embedded in Indian culture. For example, some designs use Kantha stitching – ‘essentially a running stitch and used to quilt fabrics together. We’re only just getting started with recycling in this country, but other nations have been doing things a lot longer. Typically, old saris or curtains were sewn together to make a bedspread or bed cushion, to make a further use of the fabric. It’s originally from West Bengal, a region known for its monsoon rains – when they sew Kantha stitching they try to imitate the monsoon rainfall in the embroidery. It’s very dense, vertical embroidery.’
Rachel has Kantha-stitched jackets and throws in stock, as well as a range of pintuck shirts, tunics and comfortable loosest dresses, and bags dyed with natural indigo and pomegranate. At the end of September, Rachel will head back to Jaipur, but her fabrics and clothing will still be on sale in Sherborne, Shaftesbury and Frome, as well as being available to buy direct on her website.
Brilliant and unmissable, The Sheep Show hilariously highlights the importance of wool and the truth about sheep farming … while debunking certain sheep-related myths. by Rachael Rowe
Dougal the Scottish Blackface. All images: Trevor Wayborn
Trevor Wayborn paced the stage on a cold, windy, damp morning when the early crowd had begun to have second thoughts about coming to a spring agricultural show. But there was something about The Sheep Show that brightened a dull day and put a smile on everyone’s face. The laughter, the engagement – even the education – that came from the performance was an absolute tonic. And we’ve not even mentioned the sheep. By the time he had finished, even the sun was shining!
The Sheep Show travels in style
Trevor is based in North Devon with his family (and sheep) – but every year he heads out on the agricultural show circuit with The Sheep Show. ‘I’ve always been in farming. My parents were farmers, but they had to come out of it before I was old enough join them. When I left home I joined the ambulance service and became a paramedic, but I always kept sheep alongside the day job and also did contract shearing. In 2013 I left the ambulance service – the same year I saw Richard Savory with his Sheep Show at Devon County Show. I chatted to him and thought to myself: “I’d love to be involved with that”.
It just all came together really. I have experience in the theatre and in sheep shearing. So I worked with him to see what I could do and started doing my own shows in 2015. Richard had been running The Sheep Show for 30 years at that point, and I was in awe of the way he worked. I took over the business in 2022 and that’s where I am now. It’s a family affair too – my wife and daughter are also involved.’ No-one watching The Sheep Show can fail to notice some stand-out performers in the team – look especially for Lenny and Belinda among the native British breeds. ‘There’s not a special thing we look for in the sheep. All the breeds we use are chosen because they tell a story – but we do try to get them early in their lives. Then they get used to food. We don’t get them too tame and we just look for that little bit of something to work on. ‘I don’t want to give away too many trade secrets! Once we’re on stage we just work around them. We don’t train them – actually they train us! ‘We see what the individual sheep starts to do when it walks around after the food and we work with that. We just watch for what they do naturally, we don’t teach them, and then we reward their behaviour with food.
Lenny the Lincoln Longwool and Dougal
For example, Dougal tries to head butt me – all I’m doing is harnessing his talent.’ The sheep start to learn there is food available, and soon learn that repetitive behaviour gets rewarded. They just know they will get fed – and they love it!’ The preparation for each show goes beyond the sheep themselves, however. ‘Of course we keep an eye on their health, but we’re not looking for pristine sheep, so it’s not about bathing and combing etc. A lot of preparation is involved in performing at a show. The lorries have to be ready. We need hay, water and feed. And then we need enough food and stuff for the humans – we can be away at shows for ten-day stretches. So everything, both the sheep and humans, needs to be ready. Sheep have a reputation for being a bit … stupid. But Trev’s keen to dispel the myth. ‘Sheep are not stupid! They are very intelligent. Look at what the team does around the back of the show – where the hard work really takes place. I’m just part of the act. The sheep know exactly what order they come up in, and when they hear their music they get up and get ready to go on the stand. It’s really cool to see the sheep adopt this behaviour in the show because they enjoy it. They even go to sleep up there.
The shearing is total ‘edutainment
‘Really! I had to wake Sam up the other day at the Great Yorkshire Show. He was asleep on the stand! The sheep just won’t go on that stand if they don’t want to. ‘And every time the sheep come up they surpass my expectations – they come up every time and do what they do. ‘They have favourite music too. They love a bit of Taylor Swift! And they like Kenny Loggins’ Footloose, too. As soon as we put Taylor Swift on they all get up and start. And when Footloose comes up they know it’s dancing time. You can see them look at each other and say: “Here we go!” Even after so many shows, Trevor admits that it doesn’t always run perfectly smoothly: ‘I forgot to put a sheep in the hatch for shearing at one show. I was standing there waiting for it to come out and nothing was in there! Last week, one of my mates hid in the hatch, and instead of my expected sheep he jumped out at me! But that’s what happens with the travelling show community, we all look after each other.’ The show is brilliant entertainment, but it has a serious message hidden within the dancing sheep.
‘I think people learn different things, depending where we are. Some people have never even seen a live sheep – I couldn’t believe it when I did an inner city show in London. But even when we go to rural shows there are still people who don’t understand why we shear sheep, or that the fleece has such little financial worth. ‘We’re happy that people take just one or two facts from the show – perhaps why we have to shear the sheep for their welfare and for legal reasons. Wool is so good for the environment – endlessly renewable and truly biodegradable. And we all want to enjoy the countryside, which sheep help us maintain. It’s part of the make up, what the countryside is all about.’
The August Bank Holiday weekend saw the Sturminster Newton Royal British Legion Branch manning a stall at the Stock Gaylard Oak Fair. The Poppy Appeal organisers, Anthony and Tracy Walsh, organised a fantastic draw – with the star prize being a unique bottle of gin made for, and donated by, the Royal Marines in Poole. It came complete with a Commando dagger in the neck that the gin gets poured through! That along with 12 other prizes, a name the Teddies competition and some generous donations raised just over £1400, split between the Poppy Appeal and the Military Association. The branch would like to extend a huge thank you to all the organisations who donated prizes and to everyone who stopped by to buy a ticket, name the teddies or just to say hello. It was very much appreciated and made all the hard work extremely worthwhile!
Gillian Matthews, who redefined athleticism, leaving an indelible mark on Paralympic history and on grassroots disability sports, has died, aged 87
Gillian Matthews in 2004, on the day she received her MBE for her services to charity
When Gillian Matthews fell from her favourite horse, Sunsketch, at the Larkhill Point to Point in 1965, she broke her back – and the high spinal fracture meant that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. But although the determined young mother, from Penselwood, near Wincanton, had four children, including three-year-old twin boys, she also found innovative ways to continue as a sportswoman. Sunsketch was uninjured in the accident and went on to win the Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown two years later. Gill spent six months in Stoke Mandeville Hospital undergoing rehabilitation. Refusing to accept her active life was over, she started training as a Paralympian. She went on to represent Great Britain in four Paralympic games. She won two bronze medals in Heidelberg in 1972 for table tennis. In 1974, Gill won a gold medal for the pentathlon at the Commonwealth Paralympic Games in New Zealand, displaying skills in shot put, a 60-yard wheelchair dash, swimming, javelin and archery. She also won bronze and silver in table tennis. In the Paralympic Games in Toronto 1976 and Arnhem 1980, she won medals in archery and lawn bowls. Along with her collection of Paralympic achievements, in 1988 Gillian became the Paralympic World Champion table tennis player in Brisbane.
A lasting legacy However, Gill wanted to bring the experience of the Paralympic games closer to home so that anyone could be inspired to have a go, particularly those who would not otherwise have had the opportunity to see disabled athletes in action. She felt that actually seeing what athletes could do would be inspirational for people with a disability. Gill met the Bath & West Show team and in 1973, the Bath & West Games for the Disabled was introduced to the annual show, where the sport remains a feature. In 1997, the Western Daily Press interviewed Gill for the 25th anniversary of the games at the Bath & West. Gill said: ‘I was already very competitive, but I became even more so when I was in a chair. I got involved in the National Games at Stoke Mandeville and competed for 26 years. ‘The event here is unique – no other agricultural show has anything like it. Sport can be a tremendous therapy and it has so much to offer in other ways.’ For many years, Gill remained heavily involved in the planning of the Bath & West Games for the Disabled, and campaigned for facilities for people with disabilities. The Games were visited by the late Queen, the then Prince Charles and also by Princess Alexandra. Gill persuaded the Prince to try some wheelchair slaloms – he managed a few obstacles, according to Gill’s son, Gerrard – but Princess Alexandra completed the entire course!
Gillian is to the left of Prince Charles, who is trying the wheelchair basketball at the Bath & West Games for the Disabled
A lasting legacy Despite her accident, Gill and her husband Franey maintained an avid interest in horses, especially racing. They raced at several courses including Wincanton, where their horse Alder Mairi won the Handicap Hurdle in 2014. The couple had four children – Sarah (deceased), Belinda, Gerrard and Nicholas. Gill was grandmother to Venetia, Emily, Charlie, Jamie, Antonia, Tom and Elizabeth, and great- grandmother to Isabella. As well as her extraordinary achievements as a Paralympian, Gillian was a Justice of the Peace and magistrate in Dorset from 1978 to 2006. In 2004, she was awarded the MBE for her services to charity. Gill was also a trustee and patron of the Inspire Foundation which champions independence and quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries. When life changes in an instant, none of us know how we would react. Gillian Matthews made the most of every moment and has left a sporting legacy that will inspire generations to come.
With a super-sized new Food Hall and more than 100 producers, we’re thinking: ‘Yes, yes, it is!’
We’re so excited. This year’s show has a huge new Food Hall. And when we say huge … it stretches for 60 metres! The foodie paradise showcases the best of British food and drink producers, with a particular focus on those from Dorset. From brownies to beer, pickles to pork, cider to sourdough, English wines, local gins, cheese, olives and more, the massive marquee provides a taste-tempting experience. And of course there are tasty samples – so you can try before you buy! Justin Langham from Langham Wine Estate near Dorchester – one of the show’s sponsors – says: ‘Dorset’s farming community is rightly proud of its produce. The new Food Hall at this year’s show is an exciting opportunity for us to celebrate the world-class food and drink we make here. We’re delighted to be a part of it.’ Show organiser James Cox says: ‘Our county is bursting with wonderful food and drink producers – we’re delighted to bring together more than 100 of them, ranging from small producers who are just starting out to well-established, international award-winning names. We love putting visitors and producers together.’
The new Food Hall sits alongside a new Food & Drink Area, sending mouthwatering smells of delicious hot and cold treats. From Dorset burgers to local doughnuts, this new area welcomes local producers selling both food and condiments for you to enjoy on site and take home to use in your own kitchen. James Cox says: ‘The new area has a festival vibe, with colourful flags and live music. Enjoy a pitstop for a cool local cider or a Dorset ploughman’s picnic.’ The area also has outside pitches for market traders as well as picnic marquees.
Loving and beloved wife of Christopher, mother of Anne, Hugh, Charles and John, grandmother of Emile, Jack, Billy, Cecily, Joe, Jeremy, Ivan and Gus and great grandmother of Florence.
