Robin Hood country show

I must start by thanking the Aztec Events team especially Maddie with the speed it took to send me over my presspass due to me sorting everything out to late.

Entrance to the show was very swift and well organised but once inside I did find it a bit confusing as the layout didn't seem quite like the picture in the programme.

There was various ranges including cork rifles, where you could win money, a catapult range, archery, darts and paintball. There was also a small paintball course.


The birds of prey were well worth going to see, with three stalls with many different species of birds of prey from Barn Owls to Harris Hawks. The Harris Hawk on the demo was amazing he was at least 500 yards away at the stand and he managed to spot the man swinging his treat around at the main arena and flew over, circled around, and then dived down to his treat. This is well worth seeing, it made me decide to find out more about falconry and is something Im now looking into starting up in the future, it is definately something I am looking forward to researching and finding out more about it.

The demos as far as I can see are to give people who dont know an insight to what the sport entails. This is something Simon Whitehead from Pakefield ferrets has managed to get down to a fine art, with a great demo that show what the ferrets do under ground and the different equipment used for the sport of ferreting. Everything was explained to the point where the simplist of people could understand.

The gundog demo was gave a real insight into what it takes to train a gundog and what they really do, if I didnt already know alot about through my participation in countrysports and my through my research I would of walked away a more knowledgable person.


I only caught a bit of the Essex dog display teams demo and that was agility up and down two ramps and then through a square hoop, the ramps had poles on the tops which were on fire and the hoop was also on fire and dogs were doing the course while carrying a dumbell which was also on fire, all very exciting and entertaining to the public but I thought it was quite irresponsible considering the size of the plates on the dumbell protecting the dogs (they were far to small) and the fact that a dogs coat is fur. I bet you wouldnt get the Essex dog display team owners doing it so why should their dog.

The archery demo was a robin hood themed archery competition, with all the characters from the story competing for the chance to go head to head with Robin Hood, very entertaining.

I spent along time talking to Jenny from the Ferret friends rescue, very nice lady absolutely love ferrets and has some amazing ferrets including the long haired angora ferrets, during this time talking to Jenny I found out that people feed there ferrets cat food I new it happened but I thought I was the only person that had experienced it I rescued the last of four ferrets three of which had died due to being fed cat food, I didnt realise how common this is. The ferret friends rescue board, rescue and rehome ferrets.
If you ever see them at a show be sure to go and have a chat, they really are very nice people.
They also have a blind albino ferret called Barney who took part in recreating a Da Vinci picture the Lady with Ermine and also a two page spread in the Daily Mail. Barney was also at the show this year, so if you see them at a show at least pop over to see Barney probably the most famous ferret in the country.
Here is a link to their website so you can visit and see more about what they do.


www.ferretfriendsrescue.info

NOBs where there selling memberships. NOBs stands for National Organisation of Beaters and Pickers up. They are the link between gamekeepers and beaters. If a shoot organiser was two beater down for his pheasant shoot, it was in your area and you are a member you maybe able to go and beat on that shoot.
Its £5.00 a year to sign up for a basic membership or £20.00  a year for the insurance membership package, Im not going to go into detail of the insurance but i'll put the web address below. This is not to be missed it really is the best insurance package I have ever seen.


www.nobs.org.uk


There was a trailer with different stands on it each different stand had a different breed of sheep. You don't realize how different, different breeds of sheep look to each other. Throughout the day there was a man giving sheep sheering demos.


The mobile farm experience. This is a really nice idea, great for the children. Basically the come to your home or wherever you want them to go and bring the animals with them. Great for children's parties. It is suitable for any environment.
My two year old son came along with me and he loved it. He basically had a lamb on his lap, and he held a two day old duckling. Apart from the ducklings and lambs they had a cockerel, goats, two fully grown ducks and a Shetland pony. A fantastic idea my boy loved it.


www.gemmasfarm.co.uk

It was great to see that the All About Dogs show is still running although it is a bit of a shame its part of another show and nothing like the scale it has been in past years. It consisted of many trade stand's and the same amount of rescue centres all trying to raise money and awareness for there cause.
Events throughout the day were-

• Mad tyke dog rally-o.
• The Deaf Dogs demo.
• AMK9 dog display team.
• Tierney and Missy crufts winners heel work to music.
• Billericay dog display team.
• Marie Miller.
• Canine performers heelwork to music.
• and dog docks which is always worth a watch, as dogs run up the dock and then stop at the end while an embarrassed dog owners tries frantically to get there dog to jump in. Stick with it because you will see a brave dog run up the dock and just leap out into the water (normally soaking the people who got to close).

For the kids there was zorbing, boating and a massive inflatable fun centre that even I wanted to go on.

The knights were amazing, competing in a jousting competition and ending up having plenty of fights with hints to the Olympics, archery, sword fights, spear throwing and spectacular stunts throughout. This is a must see if you have kids, I cant stand horses and I loved it.

Upcoming events.

Southend 7th-8th July.

Suffolk 6th-7th October.

Newark 13th-14th October.

• www.robinhoodcountryshow.co.uk