CELEBRATING the people, animals, and industry of the Essex countryside, the ninth Blackwater Country show today was perhaps "the best yet".
Hunting hounds, miniature ponies, and Newfoundland dogs were on display beside vintage tractors, Viking battles and vintage crafts at the Rook Hall show which pulled in the crowds by their thousands.
"You know I think this might be the best show so far, I hate a cliché I really do, but I think it might be," said Michelle Watkinson, one of the team of organisers.
"It's a real community show and we have no commercial stalls, these are all local traders – that's always been our USP. I think this year it's a very tactile show too, there's a lot to see and touch.
"We just couldn't do it without everybody that helps out. The four of us can have the idea and plan the structure of it but it wouldn't happen without all of them."
With perhaps as many dogs as people enjoying the show on Sunday afternoon it is clear animals remain at the heart of the rural celebration with members of the Essex hunt on display, Newfoundland dogs splashing around in the lake and the opportunity for all four-legged pets to take a stab at an assault course.
Rowena Parker, of the Burnham and District Dog Training Club, was there enjoying the spectacle of owners attempting to lead their pets around the agility apparatus, with her fully-trained up poodle Wesley.
"We've made it a bit easier for them. You see some of the owners doing the jumps along with their dogs which is quite fun and they naturally like all the tunnels. We've been very busy all day," she told the Chronicle
And turning her own horse into an educational tool for visitors at the show was equine body worker Becky Lovell.
The 22-year-old had spent nearly two hours using coloured chalk to mark the muscular structure on her 29-year-old stallion Dubai.
"I massage horses for a living and wanted do so something educational and it's easier when you can explain it to someone one-to-one. The chalk shows the first layer of his muscle and demonstrates just how much there is," said the former Writtle college student.
Displaying artwork of a wholly different kind in the crafts marquee were members of the Wood Carving Association in Essex displaying elaborate carvings, all handmade with some put together painstakingly over several months.
"It tends to be a retired person's activity. It takes skill but you don't need lots of patience like people say because if you like doing it then you don't have to be patient. We have lots of people who see us at a stall like this and then show up at a meeting themselves," said Bert Miles, from Rayleigh.
Out on the boating lake canoeists splashed around in the water alongside hand-controlled speedboats, while fully-armoured Viking warriors battled it out in the performance arena.
Capturing the historical period a little more sedately were Michelle Salgado-Nacke and her daughter Nina, with friends Jenni Joyce and seven-month-old Ayden Jennings all enjoying the day in full Viking costume and cooking their lunch with authentic handmade cooking materials.
"We enjoy being part of the society because you get to spend time outdoors and travel to all sorts of different places. It's better than just sitting at home watching TV and being bored," said Jenni, from Waterloo in London.
Cash raised at the show will be distributed between the Essex Air Ambulance and a second local charity or club picked by the organisers, who are already promising "big things" to mark the tenth anniversary in 2015.
