Village Flower Show

This blog entry may be a little one-sided, which I am sorry for, but it couldn`t be helped.

Last Saturday was the village flower show and I entered 24 classes.

I have never done so many before and wondered beforehand if it would prove to be too much.

The preparation was fine as I had put aside some time on the previous day.

I decided to carry it all to the show in large green plant trays and we found a deep box for the tall vases of flowers.

Having time to choose your exhibits makes the activity much more enjoyable.

As we gathered more and more, the kitchen table was gradually filling up.

Steve helped me choose the vegetables.

How do you choose the best from this lot?

Well it should be two that are similar in size and preferably no marks.

This one went in the strange vegetable category!!

 

 

 

Here are more of our vegetable entries.

One thing we tried not to do this time was dig up too many potatoes in order to get 5 even ones.

It is tempting to dig a whole row for perfection.

My floral exhibits.

We went along to the recreation ground quite early, where the marquee was set up with all the tables. Lots of people were arriving at the same time.

We took our time, with me setting out and Steve watering.

Paula had also entered her beautiful embroidery.....sorry no photos....and Aiden had entered his icecream model and decorated biscuits and little Alfie had done a painting.

There is always a little part of me that is reluctant to leave my work out on show for all to see.

But leave it we did, spending the rest of the morning at 

Freshwinds Garden. 

By lunchtime it was pouring and continued throughout the afternoon. At times it was torrential.

For that reason we left our return visit until later in the afternoon.

I wish I had worn my wellies.

As I walked across the field towards the marquee, I felt sadness for all the organisers who work so hard to put this show on.

Some stall holders had tried to set up but there were not many people braving the elements.

The band had had to play in the tea tent.

Inside the marquee, the ground was like a quagmire.

Instead of summer dresses and shorts, it was umbrellas, raincoats and gumboots.

We had to walk round very quickly, viewing our placements.

Exhibitors were already taking their entries, ahead of time, just wanting to go home early.

I didn`t get any chance to take photos of any other entries and in some cases didn`t even get to see the competition.

My teddy in a box.

 

Altogether I got 

6 x firsts 

2 x seconds

5 x thirds

and 2 highly commended

 

I was totally astonished to hear that I had won a cup for most points in the floral classes.

It will have my name engraved on it soon.

 

Packing up was a nightmare.

As well as our own exhibits, we took 

Paula`s embroidery (and managed to break the glass!!)

the boys` things and  

a neighbour`s things

 

We came home soaked to the skin and cold!

 

After sorting through all the flowers and vegetables, we were very pleased to have a lovely roast dinner cooked for us by Paula.

A lovely way to end an interesting day.

 

Well done to all the organisers.

So sorry about the weather.