Sunshine and big crowds at this year’s Devon County Show

Sunshine, big crowds and the Royal wedding combined to make this year’s Devon County Show the happiest and most successful for many years.

The Westpoint showground was packed on all three days, as huge crowds enjoyed the magnificent livestock, a vast range of top quality locally produced food and drink and a host of trade stands and other attractions.

“It feels as though the weather gods have been saving the best for last”, said Ollie Allen, whose last show this was as Show Secretary, after 22 years.

“I don’t think I can remember a sunnier show, or a happier one. The mood throughout has been one of celebration: of the Royal wedding, of course, but also of Devon food, farming and rural life, and all that it means to our beautiful county.

“I would like to thank all the thousands of volunteers who have made the Devon County Show what it has been over the last 22 years and have made my role the pleasure and privilege it has been. I am so proud of what we have achieved together and of what the Show means to Devon.”

The Burke Trophies - the blue riband of British cattle breeding - were judged at the Devon County for the first time, with the beef trophy going to the British Blues, and the dairy trophy to the Holsteins, with the Limousins and Jerseys in second place respectively.

The winning British Blue pair were a bull, NewPole Lorenzo, shown by Phil White and Jools Turner of the NewPole herd at Wellington, and Nat Doble’s heifer, High Ridge Blues Lucia from St Agnes in Cornwall. It is the first time that the Burke Trophy has been won by the British Blues.

The triumphant Holsteins were shown by Roland Ley, of Ley and Partners of the Thuborough Herd at Sutcombe near Holsworthy and Ollie Reed, of the Beaconhill herd at Blackborough near Cullompton.

The Royal wedding was celebrated in fine style in the new Watering Hole pavilion, where hundreds of happy show-goers were able to watch proceedings on a giant TV screens and wish the happy couple well in a mass confetti-throwing.

The Watering Hole was also the venue for a successful new musical dimension at the Show, as local bands played long into the evening.

NFU President Minette Batters visited on Thursday, and Vice President Stuart Roberts on Friday, who used the platform provided by the Show to explain that food production needs to be the man driver of the Government’s post-Brexit agricultural policy, if the environment and other ‘public goods’ are to be delivered, not the other way around.

It was theme taken up by Show President Edward Darke, when he said: “Farming is a major productive industry, with food production at its heart, which is the engine of the rural economy. Our politicians need to remember that, instead of giving the impression, as some of them do, that farming’s main output is environmental management, with food production as just a slightly inconvenient by-product.”

Ends

For further information contact:
Anne Ashford, PR for Devon County Show: 07971 275840; press@dcshow.org

Notes to editors:

The 2019 Devon County Show will be held on May 16, 17 & 18 May at Westpoint, Exeter
For more information about the show visit www.devoncountyshow.co.uk
The Devon County Show is one of the South West's most iconic and enduring annual events attracting up to 95,000 people.
The 2019 Show is the 124^th– the first was held in 1872
The Show is an impressive rural ‘shop window’ showcasing award-winning livestock, the finest food and drink and rural living at its most vibrant
The County Show is the flagship event of the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCAA), which has played a leading role in the development of agriculture, education and the rural economy in Devon since its formation in 1872
The 2018 DCAA President is Edward Darke
The DCAA Chairman of Council (an honorary position chairing the 100 strong Trustee Council body) is Mrs Mary Quicke MBE
The Honorary Show Director is David Parish.
The Honorary Show Director Designate is Stewart Stevens
The Show Secretary is Ollie Allen