Farmers around the island will be gearing up for this year’s Southern District Agricultural Show and none more so than the Kermode family who are once again hosting the show at Orrisdale, their family farm in Ballasalla.

Food & Farming went along to talk to the Kermodes along with show president, Bryony Vernon, and secretary, Zoe Hampton.

After their first time of hosting the show last year, Kirree Kermode says that the family are feeling a lot more relaxed this year: ‘We’re feeling good: last year you didn’t know what to expect, it was the unknown I think was the biggest fear, in case it went wrong.

‘Even for the people coming to the show, they didn’t know where to go, where the car parks were, and with the decision to move the show [to Orrisdale] being taken quite late on, we as landowners felt that maybe the land was not up to what was expected as we’d had cattle on it through the winter.

‘Whereas this year we’ve kept the cattle off the ground in the hope that it will improve to be more of an actual lawned field for everything.’

Last year there were certainly some grumbles coming from the Light Horse exhibitors and Kirree’s father, Pippi Kermode, says: ‘We’ve rolled it and rolled it. We’re going to get this show out of they way and then plough it and start again. That’s the plan.’

This year of course there is the complication that, despite rain over the weekend, the prolonged dry spell may make the ground very hard for showjumping and the show vet, Ray Cox, will make the final decision on that.

Pippi says: ‘We might have to look into getting some water put on it instead of hoping for water to come. It’s one day in the year you want it quite damp underfoot.’

Bryony Vernon says that visitors to the show will find the layout very similar to last year, with just a few changes: ‘The Light Horses are where the Heavy Horses were last year, at the top of the field, just to make it better for them.

‘The dogs have got an extra ring this year. We normally have one dog ring but this year we’ve got two so I think they are planning to run Obedience classes and Agility classes side by side.

‘And we’ve got a whole new section this year: Vintage Cars, to go with the Vintage Machinery.’

There are also two new marquees: One is for the Arts & Crafts section, which used to be in the Produce but has been expanded this year. The other marquee is a ‘table top’ marquee for smaller trade stands: to save them the expense of building a full size stand, they can display their wares on a table.

‘That’s been very popular,’ says Bryony.

Zoe Hampton adds: ‘We are very pleased with the response both for trade stands and entries – entries are up overall.’

This bucks a trend over recent years for entry numbers to decline, which is very good news for the future of the show. Zoe adds that they have also already sold a lot of visitor tickets for the show online.

She is very excited that one of the attractions at this year’s show will be the Yellow Helicopters: ‘They’ll be offering “Buzz flights”, from the showground to Douglas and back on both days,’ she says.

And she is quick to add that this need not be a worry for livestock and equine exhibitors: the helicopters will be across the road, at the far end of the car parks: ‘And we did test flights to make sure,’ she says.

She goes on: ‘If flying isn’t your thing, we have ‘The Vikings of Mann’ bringing a Viking village onto the show field. It’s the only show they’ve done on the island, apart from Tynwald Day.’

The timetable for the competition classes follows the usual format: Saturday is the main livestock showing day, culminating in the grand parade when section winners are paraded in the main ring to be judged for the Supreme Championship. The Lt Governor will be arriving at 2pm to plant a commemorative tree.

Sunday features the carriage driving competition, show jumping and working hunter classes, along with meg lamb agility, dog agility and the fun dog show that you can enter on the day.

Zoe says: ‘The show committee would like to thank the Kermode family and the many, many helpers who set up the show, the stewards and the judges. There are far too many to mention them all by name but without them the show would not happen.’

l The Southern District Agricultural Show is on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31 at Orrisdale Farm, Ballasalla.

It is open to visitors at 10am on both days.

There is plenty of free car parking but please note that access to the car parks is only from the A5 Douglas to Castletown Road (not from the St Marks end of Orrisdale Road). The show is on the main bus route to the south and all buses will stop at the bottom of the show field.

You can buy tickets online at southernshow.org, or from Thompson Travel in Port Erin; Chree-Bree and Something Different in Castletown, and Paradise & Gell in Peel.

They can also be bought on site on show day, using cash or cards.