Royal Welsh and Smallholder Festival will open the gates to Summer (From Smallholder)

Royal Welsh and Smallholder Festival will open the gates to Summer

10:40am Wednesday 13th May 2009

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Royal Welsh Festival will ‘open the gates to summer’ The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s Smallholder and Garden Festival opening on May 16 for two days is the first major Royal Welsh event of the year on the showground at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, and the organisers believe it opens the gates to summer in Wales, said Dr Fred Slater, the Festival Director.

“With the intention of giving everyone a break from the general economic gloom, the Festival has all the elements that regular visitors have come to expect and there is much to see and do, all in a compact area,” he said.

This will be the ninth Smallholder and Garden Festival to be staged by the RWAS and it will have a larger and more varied programme than ever. The entries of rare and traditional breeds of livestock include 466 sheep, more than 150 pigs and nearly 200 goats, and the premier open dog show, now a qualifier for Crufts, has attracted 1340 entries from across the UK.

There will be 350 trade stands on the showground including those displaying and selling craft items, clothing, flowers, shrubs and vegetables as well as equipment for smallholders and gardeners and the Farmers Markets of Wales will be represented by 64 stands in the Food Hall selling creative and locally-produced food and drink.

Among the popular attractions will be the Green Horizons exhibition focussing on how to better utilise natural resources and save energy and also featuring ‘Transition Towns’ in which local communities are taking the initiative by growing their own food, generating their own electricity and building homes with local materials.

New to the Festival this year will be an advice centre in the South Glamorgan Exhibition Hall for poultry keepers where visitors can obtain help and information packs on all aspects of poultry keeping from feeding and rearing chicks to selecting equipment.

The Festival is open from 9am to 6pm each day and there will be a full programme of entertainment throughout the weekend including special attractions for children. One of these is the Miller’s Ark Animals where children can enjoy close contact with farm animals in an environment where the emphasis is on touching and feeding the animals, building confidence and awareness and inspiring interest and respect in the children while providing an exciting experience.

A variety of displays will be staged at the Festival among them falconry, dressage, dog agility, sheep shearing, halter and rope making and farriery. Demonstrations will include those provided by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies and the Hill Pony Improvement Society of Wales. There will be a fur and feather exhibition of pets and the Festival will also have sections on woodland crafts, the use of livestock for land improvement, a property road show, a floral hall and beekeeping, emphasising the worldwide decline in bees and the effect of this on food production and the economy.

A vintage machinery display and parade has attracted no fewer than 189 entries and collectors will find plenty of interest at the auction of vintage memorabilia, while keen bidding is expected at the auction of poultry and farm equipment.

A dance festival featuring folk and country dances has been included in the activities again this year and display teams will dance at various sites on the showground and perform in the Montgomery Pavilion during the event.

Disabled visitors to the Festival will be able to hire wheelchairs from the British Red Cross who will have a stand on site located at the Tŷ Ynys Môn building. For further information contact Philip Taylor of the British Red Cross on 01686 626663 or email ptaylor@redcross.org.uk.

Visitors arriving by train from Swansea or Shrewsbury throughout the daytime during the two days will be met at Builth Road station and transported to the showground by minibus. A return service will also operate from the showground to the station.

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