The Lustleigh Show is an annual country show held in the village of

Lustleigh Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named in various publications as be ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. The show takes place on the

August Bank Holiday The August Bank Holiday or Summer Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, part of the statutory bank holiday provision. Originally, the holiday was held on the first Monday of August across the country, but was changed in the lat ...

Monday every year, and has been running since 1887. The show typically attracts upwards of 4,000 visitors, to a village with a population under 700. The show features traditional country fete activities including a horticultural show, dog show,

bowling for a pig Bowling for a pig was a traditional British competition, usually held at country fêtes, fairs, and carnivals. It was a form of bowling as a test of skill, with the highest scorer(s) winning the prize. The traditional prize was a live pig to take ...

, and displays in the main ring.

History

The first record of the show is in 1887, named as the Lustleigh Cottage Garden Show, and featuring a horticultural exhibition and contest, as well as a

fête In the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies, a fête or fete is a public festival organised to raise money for a charity, typically held outdoors. It generally includes entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Fetes are ty ...

organised in conjunction with the ''Rational Sick and Burial Association''. The first show had a long marquee in the field adjacent to

the railway station ''The Railway Station'' is an 1862 genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith.Trotter p.63 The painting is held at Royal Holloway College, with a smaller version in the Royal Collection. Description It depicts a scene at the busy ...

and cricket field. The

Bovey Tracey Bovey Tracey () is a town and civil parish in Devon, England. It is located on the edge of Dartmoor, which gives rise to the slogan used on the town's boundary signs: ''The Gateway to the Moor''. It is often known locally as ''Bovey''. About so ...

Brass Band played, including a procession from the field to the church for a service. Prizes to the value of £20 were offered for winners in the horticultural show. By 1889, sports competitions had been added to the programme, with prizes to the value of £5 advertised. In 1900, the show suffered its first 'wash out', with stormy weather causing the collapse of the horticultural tent, killing several of the chickens on display but the following year in 1901, the show reported over 500 exhibits being entered in the horticultural show. The destruction of the tent was written about by local diarist

Cecil Torr Cecil Torr (11 October 1857, Mitcham, London – 17 December 1928) was a British antiquarian and author. Early life Torr was the son of a solicitor and was educated at Harrow School. Cecil Torr matriculated on 7 June 1876 at Trinity College, Camb ...

in his ''Small Talk at Wreyland'', who also noted that there were rabbits on display. By 1912, the show also noted the inclusion of

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

dancing alongside sports such as hurdles, high jump, long jump, potato picking,

and tilting the bucket. The show moved to the fields at Kelly Farm in 1947, during which year over 921 people attended the show, despite heavy rainfall on the previous day requiring drainage works to the field entrance. This show also notes the presence of a well supported

gymkhana Gymkhana () (, , , , ) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to denote a place where skill-based contests were held. "Gymkhana" is an Anglo-Indian expression, which is derived from the ...

. The 1948 show was titled as the "second annual flower show and gymkhana" and ran alongside a goat show organised by the South-Western Counties Goat Society. The goat show was a fixture over several decades, including through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, with the last mention being in 1995. When the

Monday was moved from the start to the end of August by

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

in 1965, the show moved with it, and stayed on the bank holiday Monday.

Show schedule

As well as the foundational horticultural exhibition, the show currently has a range of attractions, including traditional fairground games, music,

sheaf toss Sheaf may refer to: * Sheaf (agriculture), a bundle of harvested cereal stems * Sheaf (mathematics) In mathematics, a sheaf (: sheaves) is a tool for systematically tracking data (such as sets, abelian groups, rings) attached to the open s ...

ing, and a dog show. Displays in the main ring change annually, but include activities such as falconry, stunt shows, heavy horses, and children's races. The show has had flypast displays by the

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing several un ...

and

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force Flight (military unit), flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber and two fighters, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurr ...

Lustleigh 10k

The show also hosts the Lustleigh 10k run, which is a challenging multi-terrain run over a course around the village, starting and finishing in the show field.

Organisation

The Lustleigh horticultural society organised the show until 1990, when it was taken over by a dedicated committee. Surplus funds raised from the show are spent in the village on numerous community projects and good causes. Thus far more than £15,000 has been reinvested in the village.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Lustleigh Show official website
Annual fairs Dartmoor Festivals in Devon Fairs in England Annual events in the United Kingdom August Animal festival or ritual Autumn in England Agricultural shows in England 1887 establishments Recurring events established in 1887