Agricultural shows are important occasions in the farming year. The people who work in the countryside, along with those that own it, gather at regional showgrounds for three days every summer to celebrate their way of life. At the heart of these events are livestock competitions in which animals are judged in great seriousness and detail. The official catalogue of the South of England Show, which took place at Ardingly in Sussex last week, runs to 400 pages of competitions, demonstrations and displays. Princess Anne opened the event and it was attended by government and opposition agriculture ministers. These shows are also part of the contemporary leisure scene. Beside the farmers and the hunting fraternity, tens of thousands of visitors come to have an enjoyable day out and indulge in modern fantasies of rural life. The huge parking areas outside the showground are matched by displays of shiny new 4x4 vehicles inside it. Horses and carts are driven round by people dressed in Edwardian costume. Picnics are laid out on the grass as packs of hounds and immaculate huntsmen display themselves in the arena. Huge and strangely placid bulls are led by the nose past judges in bowler hats and people eating ice cream. There's a rich variety of human and animal life at the South of England Show.

Two sheep on the Australian sheep-shearing display stand (image 2519-35)

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