The "Horti" Show

Saturday was taken up with the village Horticultural Show.

We were both up early and, after a quick breakfast, were out in the garden selecting the produce that needed to be exhibited as fresh as possible.

30% took care of the runner beans, whilst I selected the carrots and beetroot. 

It has been a tough year for growing fruit and vegetables and we both struggled to find matching examples of good quality produce.  I think it's fair to say that neither of us expected to win any prizes, and I did question why I was getting so stressed over a little village show!

Shortly after nine o'clock we headed up to the village hall, and spent the next couple of hours setting out our exhibits and catching up with friends and acquaintances.  

Despite the hard growing conditions, there were a huge quantity of entries, and exhibitors were struggling to find space on the show tables for their produce.  We were also reassured that our produce wasn't, perhaps, as poor as we originally thought.

We headed back home at eleven and left the Show Judges to do their worst.

Lunch and a post-prandial nap followed before 30% and I headed back up to the village hall to see how we had done.

It is fair to say that we had done much better than we had expected. Many of our entries had prize cards, and this made our efforts and stress seem worthwhile.

After checking our results we had a lovely time wandering around the hall chatting with friends and fellow exhibitors. I'm not a particularly social person, but I really did have a fine time congratulating, commiserating and talking about the experiences of growing veg in such a hot, dry Summer.

I suppose I had better start planning our 2026 campaign!