Review: South of England Agricultural Society Spring Garden and Leisure Show

 The SEAS (South of England Agricultural Society) Spring Garden and Leisure Show was our first show of the season and a rather accidental one. My 'rents had to get to Gatwick Sunday morning so I thought why waste the journey and why not see if there is anything going on 'tother side of the bridge.

Details

Show: South of England Agricultural Society Spring Garden and Leisure Show
Organiser: SEAS
Date: May 1st, 2011
Location: SEAS showground, Ardingly, East Sussex
Admission: £9 (per adult)

Overall Rating: 

Three Pairs of Hunters

We have not been to an SEAS show before (The SEAS has a hooge ground at Ardingly and holds several fairs a year) and based on this initial experience I don't know as we will be attending another.

The Spring Garden and Leisure Show is their first show of year and they do a lot of good promoting the English countryside and agriculture. Or at least they are meant to. But Dave and I were disappointed.

It was a lovely sunny day and the drive out to Ardingly was very pleasant. When we got there the show had just opened. Standing in line for tickets a lady came up to us and asked us if we wanted to buy a double admission ticket for a fiver. Something to do with showing her dogs.

Well, we were sure glad we did. £2.50 each was about right for what was on offer! This was barely a step up from a village fete.

The categories below are judged accordingly based on the price of admission and over all quality of what is on offer. A value for money index so to speak.

Location: Good

Good location.  Easy to find in Ardingly and well sign posted as the South of England Agricultural Society show ground.

I would advise them to put the postal code on their location web page for the benefit of the now ubiquitous satnav.

It is just a show ground. No gardens, great house etc there but the surroundings were quite pleasant and clean if not particularly spectacular.

Parking: Good

Good and free. No hassle in or out. Organised and sane.

Facilities: Excellent

The SEAS owns the showground. It is purpose built rather than just playing host to events periodically. As such the facilities were brilliant. Real permanent toilet blocks and running water. Never too busy and they were clean.

Dave and myself are lucky enough to be able bodied so could not really judge accessibility. There were paved paths and all the buildings appeared to have wheel chair access. That made this show a bit friendlier than others we have been to.

Layout and Size: Fair

The showground was too big for what was on offer. Too much space with too little in it. But the craft marquee was crammed. They would have done better to allocate more space to that area. There was lots to spare!

The showground is hooge but that being said the show itself was not very big. Not a lot there. There was quite a lot of empty space and the space used was not used particularly efficiently or effectively.

Exhibitor Variety: Dreadful

There were people selling shoes, people selling junk jewellery, people selling plants and lawn ornaments, and very little else.

There was a “Craft” marquee but it was the same old made in China crap you get at most shows but without anything interesting or of superior quality to balance it out.

There were two that made an impression: The Pepperpot herb farm had an amazing variety of herbs to take home and there was a French company selling ratcheted secateurs.

One thing I cannot get my head around is the apparent demand for FUDGE at these shows. There must have been ten people selling fudge. Fudge that obviously all came from the same factory.

Same goes for most of the clothing and footwear.

Exhibitor Quality: Poor

Also very poor was the quality of goods on offer. Nothing you would not find down Romford market on a Saturday. This includes most of the food retailers and catering as well.

Food (catering): Poor

Dave and I have learned not to eat out at these things. It is always VERY expensive and generally disappointing.

Here there was the usual variety of fast food: sausages, fish and chips, burgers, and beer. Nothing out of the ordinary or tempting to our tummies.

I have graded this Poor because Dave, who usually cannot resist having something that smells good, did not have an appetite for anything.

Food (exhibitors): Poor

Nothing unusual or interesting. In fact there was some stuff there that seemed out of place like the bulk sweets sellers. Someone else had obviously raided a Greggs earlier that morning and was hocking pretty ghastly looking cakes and doughnuts.

The familiar selection of sausages,  standard cheeses, flavoured vinegars, honey, preserves, and curry sauces.  No artisan producers or farm shops. Which was disappointing considering it was the Agricultural Society show.

Arts and Crafts: Dreadful

The amount of tat that passes for art and craft at these things always amazes me. Hardly any of it was actually genuinely handmade by the person at the stall. Mostly fair trade type goods “handmade” in cottage industries in Malaysia and the like. There is always someone selling magnetic bracelets.

Anyways there was nothing that I absolutely HAD To HAVE which would indicate an overall lack of originality and quality.

Events and Attractions: Poor

Not a great selection there being but two choices:

If you were a dog person you would have been there for the dog show. Not a huge event but interesting if you were into that kind of thing. We did see some lovely beasts.

There was also a low budget gardener’s question time. We did not attend being there at the wrong sort of time and preferring to be outdoors in the sunshine.

Animals: Good

As well as the dog show there were poultry, rabbits, llamas, and alpacas. There was actually llama and alpaca judging which was interesting and Dave and I stayed to see one of the classes awarded. The kink needs to go ALL the way down but I still contend that 12 was the best one.

Not as good as some shows I have been to like Hatfield but most shows don’t do the animal husbandry or demonstrations at all so being that there was some and that it was that little bit different this made it worth while.

Demonstrations and Activities: Dreadful

There were bouncy castles and such for the children and a medieval archery club was giving lessons.

There weren’t any demonstrations as such except for the woollen guild who were hanging out and knitting and spinning with the llamas.

Note: The super chamois guy does not count as a demonstration.

Atmosphere: Fair

Not particularly festive though the crowd did bulk out toward the afternoon. For a bright sunny day I would have hoped for more energy. But we were also quite tired having been up at the crap o’ dawn so Fair is a reserved judgement.

Value for Money: Poor

Very poor. At £9 per person on the door we would have been VERY disappointed.

For what was on offer, the quality and quantity of goods, exhibitors, events, and attractions  it was more like a £5 show. The few things that made it worth while were the llamas and alpacas, the giant bunnies, and the variety of herbs on offer from Pepperpot.