The Royal Highland Show

The Royal Highland Show (RHS) is a 4-day annual event for all things farming and countryside.  The show takes place in Ingliston, just outside Edinburgh.  Though I prefer smaller agricultural shows, friends said you should at least attend once so you can experience it.

The first show was in 1822 and until 1960, the show moved around to different towns and cities in Scotland before landing permanently in Ingliston.  There has only been one year with no show, the year of the devastating Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 2001.  Livestock exhibits include sheep, cattle, goats, horses, ponies, and poultry.  There is also an incredibly large exhibit of incredibly large and incredibly expense farm equipment.  There are competitions for handcrafts, forestry (I missed the deadline for the pole climbing competition), shopping for anything from tools to wellies, falconry and gun dog displays, and a duck herding Border Collie show.  The price for the show was pretty hefty, at £25 ($38), plus £8 for parking or to take the bus in from the park & ride.  And, that's per day, not for multiple days.  I was glad I picked the first day of the show to attend - not as many people and the weather was fantastic (the same could not be said for the weekend days.)

My favourite part of the show, other than the sheep (of course), was the Food Hall.  There were exhibitors from all over Britain giving out lots of samples.  Everything from olive oils, to candy, artisan breads, cheese, whisky, as well as top chefs preparing their dishes in the Cookery Theatre section.  I was pleased with myself, only purchasing some amazing cheese and a few loaves of bread.  My favourite was the Amber Mist cheddar cheese laced with whisky from Snowdonia Cheese Company!!

For livestock, there were rows and rows of sheep and cows on display, as well as other livestock.  I was a little surprised there wasn't a larger variety of breeds, but it is a Scottish show, so the breeds were all from this area (versus some of the breeds that might be found in southern England.)  For instance, if you really wanted to get to know the Texel breed (the middle picture in the right column of the collage below), there were enough there to form an army!   All told, there were 5,000 animals present.

Just as with the sheep show I went to in the Highlands, all the show sheep were painted and beautified for the show.

These farmers were literally painting this poor sheep's head with some type of cake paint.
Others just used a bit of baby powder, which seemed nicer to me.

This fella was a beauty!

One of my favourite breeds, the Zwartble, in her polka dot coat.

I loved the white coats of all the showman/woman.

The RHS is a very big show for the "horsey set".  All their events were going on in the main arena.
I didn't spend too much time watching, but I enjoyed this class for the woman in their wonderful skirts.

This not-so-traditional coloured black Highland Coo (cow) won best in her class.

This picture is meant to show how huge the cattle are.  Bigger definitely is better!
Both men holding these cows (the bull is in the back, the cow in the front) were tall men.

The lighting in the barn wasn't terrific, but this was a lovely Belted Galloway cow/calf pair.

Love the blond Highland Coo calf and it's Mama.

This cow was obviously not bothered by all the fuss.  

This particular cow seemed like it might be difficult to milk.

By the time the day was over, my feet were not very happy with me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the day.