Southwell Ploughing Match 2015

A few weeks ago, we headed over to the Southwell Ploughing Match, it has grown since we last went and we spent at least 6 hours wandering round the many stalls tents and exhibits. It was a great day out, that also allowed us to show the children what farming was like many years ago and now.  As well as how important farming is to Britain and how we need to support local producers with a fair price for the extremely hard work that goes into farming.

The ploughing itself took place early on in the morning, so first of all, we went to the fields to watch this. With lots of different machinery, from horse drawn ploughs, through to the first motorised models and to the modern machines of today, it was a wonderful look into how far we'd come.

Afterwards, we grabbed some food from one of the many wonderful food stalls in the farmers market area, for lunch, we chose our favourite farm shop which is Maxeys and grabbed a few of their wonderful burgers. As well as a few beers from a local brewery's stall, later on in the day we bought some cakes from All Mine Cakes and some raw milk from Milky Business, both fabulous local businesses. 

After finishing our burgers and beers, we headed to watch the digger dancing, a great opportunity for the children to sit down as well as to watch an absolutely wonderful spectacle. Six diggers all doing acrobatics, it was brilliant and a great thing to be able to watch.

Next up, we went and looked at some of the many other stalls around the site, my son had a go at archery. It was great to be able to try something new out, especially something like archery when we are in Robin Hood County.

We next went to the craft and produce tent, there were amazing flowers, vegetables, drawings and displays of all sorts. The scarecrows were particularly cute, as were the animals made from vegetables, the winner being a rather creative and oober cute elephant made out of cabbage, red onions and beetroot.

And where would a farming related show be without some some wonderful animals. To be able to get up close and personal with some of the finest specimens of cows and sheep was a great experience for the children, you don't realise how big cows are either until you're up that close.

We had an absolutely amazing day and the children both got something from the craft tent to take home. As well as seeing how faming works, we got to meet many wonderful makers, from milk to cakes and toys to farming.

We will definitely be back next year and if you are local and I can highly recommend it.