Newbury, the celebrated market town in Berkshire, southeast England, revived its famous Newbury Agricultural Show this September with thousands attending.
Southeast England agricultural enthusiasts saw the last of the show in the pre-COVID year, 2019. The BBC’s Countrylife Live programme tried to reboot the event in 2021 but this did not happen.
This year, the agricultural show took place between September 16th and 17th, 2023. The showcase unveiled country life profiles such as farming, family fun events and food sampling.
The show begun early on Saturday the 16th and closed at 6 P.M. UK time, while the Sunday one ended at 5. P.M so people could witness a balloon event afterward.
The sponsor this year was the local Ramsbury Brewing & Distilling ltd.
The Newbury show’s organizers were expecting attendance exceeding the 55,000 visitor count of the last event in 2019. For a town of 33,841 inhabitants (2021 census), this number is quite substantial.
According to the Newbury Showground website, events included the showcase of artisan ware, “crops, agricultural technology, animals…and rural education.”
The agricultural fair coincides with the English autumn, a season for sowing grains in the Newbury rural environs. Local agricultural produce in Berkshire county that may be handy at the show include barley and wheat. These two grains, alongside canola, account for 50% of all arable land area during the autumn sowing timing.
Grass was in the past also a very welcoming sight as it thrives well in the clay soil of the region.
Stats on Newbury and South-east England Agriculture
The easternmost end of Berkshire county is only 30 miles away from London. This proximity makes the region’s agricultural patterns to gun for produce that can cater for the capital’s huge consumer density. Hence, sheep and cereals from the county come handy to cater for bakery and meat demands in London.
The UK government put agricultural income for the entire south-east at 2.2 billion Sterling pounds ($2.73 billion) in 2021. Fruit, wheat, cut plants and flowers, and dairy contributed 45% of the above income. Due to uptick new farming methods, income from agriculture shot up by 25% in the 2017-21 period.
Historic Newbury agricultural show
The modern largesse of the Newbury agricultural show in 2023 is a far cry from its humble beginnings. The event first took place on September 28, 1909, when several organizers gathered at Enborne Gate Farm for a farm produce “meetup.”
114 years later, the show has grown both in size and ambition. The Agricultural Show’s chairman told the BBC beforehand that the 2023 meet would be “promoting agriculture, horticulture and rural skills.”
The showground spans 150 acres and lies at the strategic interchange of the M4 and A34 cross-country highway.
Visitors this year had a fair share of horse rides, visits to trade booths and livestock dock tours.