Saturday Fun Day

It may not have been on Friday, but we had a nice day out yesterday.

We went to the Rydal Show.  

Rydal is a little village down near Lithgow.  We often visit in spring when they have their Daffodil Festival, but have never visited the show, as it always clashes with the Bathurst Swap Meet.  Well, there was no swap meet this year, so we finally were able to attend the show.

Rydal Show is always known to be a beaut little country show, so we were looking forward to it.

It is still very much summertime, but today was rather wintry - especially down there.  When we arrived it was drizzly and 13 degrees C!  Just as well we took coats with us.  There was a really good roll up of people attending.

First, we had a general wander around outside.  All shows, even the tiny ones, have to have the clowns. It just wouldn't be a show without them.

We thought we would have a nice warming coffee, but the queue was so long we changed our mind.

Next we popped into the pavilions.

There was a good selection of wool fleeces and some nice veges, but what blew us away was the display of flowers and floral arrangements.

The Royal Bathurst Show barely gets any entries in the floral art section these days.  For quite some years there were really only two ladies that competed against each other, but they don't even enter now.  Little Rydal had a wonderful display, with lots of different classes for adults and juniors and there were several entries in each class.  There was even a class for a buttonhole arrangement.  It was so good to see.  I do need to qualify that our Bathurst show is in late autumn and there aren't nearly as many flowers available at that time.

I loved this section for the juniors.  It was an arrangement in an egg cup.  So cute.

The succulent section was also well supported.  Aren't the gladdis on top looking good.  I wish mine would sit up straight like that.

Next to the arts and crafts pavilion.  Isn't it a nice old building.

This first thing I noticed was this beautiful piece of blackwork.  It doesn't show in the photo, but it is worked in a variegated thread.  It was stunning and I straight away thought of Fiona and her blackwork.  I wonder if this design is by the same lady as her sampler?  There were a few other examples of blackwork on display from the same exhibitor.

Mick then spied this cutey with a definite Clarice Cliff feel about it. I did a little google to see if I could locate a pattern, but no luck.

There was some lovely work on display, and a nice quantity too, for a small show.  It doesn't show well in the  photo, but the quilt with the dark blue border was from vintage linens.

There was some lovely fine knitting and crochet.  I wouldn't like to have been the judge.

The champion crochet rug was beautiful.

Next it was time to head outside again.

There was a really large dog section under way.  They had three rings going.  It was a lovely setting, in among the gum trees.

The sheep dog trials were also under way.  It is interesting seeing the different dogs work and the different methods the owners use.  

We went to watch the horses for a bit, but they were at the far side of the arena and it was so cold, that we gave up on the idea.

We didn't get to see any of the wood chop, as it wasn't underway while we were there.

The sheep pavilion was a lovely old rustic building.  Most people would have had to duck their heads to go in, but not me.  There are sometimes advantages of being a shorty.

There was another rustic old pavilion, which had a sign "Wool Pavilion" but appears to be unused at this stage. I hope they can get it restored.

At this point the rain started to set it, so we decided that it was time to continue on our drive.

We just made two purchases at the show.  A jar of home made pickles and this beautiful fuchia.  We have just the place to put it in a hanging pot.

Rather than join the long queue in the rain to get a coffee and sausage sandwich, we decided to drive to Tarana and have lunch at the little cafe opposite the pub.  The burgers were huge, the chips nice and fresh and the coffee good.  It's nice to be able to support little businesses like this.  Oh, and we were inside out of the drizzly, mizzly weather.  That was a bonus.

It is so good to see the little country shows starting to be happening again.  We were really surprised to see how many visitors there were.  The carparking areas were full and there was a long queue of cars coming in as we were leaving.  Oberon Show is next weekend.  A fortnight after that there will be Sofala Show and then in mid March there will be the Blayney Show.  Let's hope they are all a resounding success.