Show day was a wash-out (From Craven Herald)

Show day was a wash-out

12:35pm Thursday 14th June 2012 in From The Farm

Every move I make is being watched. Two pairs of eyes are peering at me from the soil construction that is cemented into the corner of the office window. It is not quite complete as the soilwork around the entrance hole needs a bit more work, but I think the pair that picked the nest site might have spent their first night in their new home.

They are unusually quiet, probably trying to decide if their new neighbour is hostile! While they have been building and looking for suitable sites around the upstairs windows we have been kept quite busy; not quite sure how it happens, but the silly little things sometimes manage to get themselves stuck in the gap between the window pane and the secondary double glazing. At least there is a plentiful supply of building materials around; there is certainly no shortage of mud at the moment.

Talking of mud, last Saturday was Honley Show and we had a stand booked there for the first time. It is supposed to be a very good show so we were looking forward to a being busy and a profitable day’s trading.

Stuart and I were up at about 4.45am and after a hasty breakfast and loading up coats and leggings we were pulling out of the back yard just before 5.45am.

After picking up stock at Skipton we made good time through Halifax and Huddersfield and arrived in Honley at about 7.15am. The show itself wasn’t easy to find as it was in open countryside just outside the village but when we eventually did find the showfield two stewards standing on the roadside by the trade entrance informed us that the show had been cancelled due to waterlogged ground! I would have liked to have seen the disbelief on our faces! We were back in Skipton before 9am!

It was disappointing, but at least we could take all our stock home and put it back on the shelf. Others, with more perishable goods, would be not so lucky.

As we were driving away we met several other stallholders, one of whom “The crusty pie man” would have a truckload of crusty pies, probably made overnight especially for the show.

We were booked to share a space at the show with a lady who makes cakes – cupcakes and muffins. She had over 450 with her and had spent two days solid preparing. Poor Marian.

Today is the last day of the Appleby Horse Fair and we will be beginning to see the return of the gypsies and travellers. They don’t come through Wharfedale, the road is too steep at the top of the valley, but I came across several groups with their horses and beautiful old-fashioned caravans when I was driving through Wensleydale about two weeks ago. They used to camp at the bottom of the lane at Runley Bridge, by the beck so that the horses could get water and I can remember being both frightened and fascinated by them when I was a little girl.