England: where cows are known for driving too quickly.
A few months ago when I was planning this trip I somehow came across a promotion for a country fair that was to be held on the grounds of a stately home, Hutton-in-the-Forest, which was quite close to where we were staying. We made plans to go and I was glad it wasn't raining sideways when it came time to set out. We have been really lucky with the weather here and it has been sunny most days. Any day that isn't raining in the UK is a good one. It was another drive through unbelievable scenery on the way there. I have seen many regions of the UK and I would say this is one of the most gorgeous - you feel like you are on top of the world up here.
As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for the cows: Travis is obsessed. They were quite lovely, if a cow can be lovely.
I don't think I've seen cows with furry coats before - I tried to listen in on a conversation between the owner (who looked to be about 13) and another visitor but didn't get very far down the road of understanding. More on that later
There were also some odd sheep - Charrolais - which looked like a pit bull cracked on (as they say here) with a sheep and this was the result.
After spending a large amount of time with the cows and sheep, we moved on to the main ring where something was going to happen imminently, we just weren't sure what. To pass the time, we listened to the fair announcer crack jokes and inform us of useless but interesting facts. When he wondered out loud if there were visitors here from far away places, we thought we should introduce ourselves. With Travis as our spokesperson, we approached the booth and stuck our heads in to say hello. The announcer immediately became quite excited when he heard where we were from and invited Travis in for a chat. On air. Broadcast over the entire fair.
Click on the link to watch Travis being interviewed. Travis takes Skelton
After that we could barely move through the crush of people who that had gathered outside the booth going wild for Travis. Or maybe that was just the ice cream queue. Anyway it was good for a laugh and Travis did an excellent job representing the country.
After the throng dispersed, we popped over to the main ring to watch the scurry racing where the tensions were high amongst the field of three competitors. I think we should introduce scurries as a form of transport, or at least it should be a thing at the Saanich Fair. Maybe Travis can use his new role as Country Fair influencer to make that happen.
In case you are unfamiliar, a scurry is a tiny horse-drawn carriage with a driver and a groom and they must navigate a course and go between cones that have balls resting on the tops of them, without knocking anything over. There were some tense moments out there on the course but in the end, a clear winner emerged coming in well ahead of the other two competitors. Between this and the Path of Doom in Carlisle, I've really been living on the edge here.
Click the link for the Scurry Racing Tense Moments at the Skelton Fair
There was a lot to see and do at the fair but I was there for the wrestling. Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestling has been a thing here for over 200 years and quite a crowd had gathered to watch. It's an informal style and each match lasted about 10 seconds, sometimes less. The little ones were first - under 10 yrs - which mostly featured Bobby, and Bobby's dad cheering him on from the sidelines. Bobby pretty much cleaned up his age category, and then the older boys came on, one of whom was wearing jeans and a dress shirt. He actually did quite well despite being over-dressed for the occasion.
The rest of the day was taken up with eating ice creams, inspecting the largest piece of rhubarb and best pie, sampling local cheeses, watching the dog show, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings and atmosphere.
The only thing that stumped me here was the accents. Here in The North, the common greeting is ‘Y’aright are ye?’ Everyone is so friendly that conversations are constantly going on around you at any time and they seem to consist mostly of a series of repeated ‘Y’aright are ye’ followed by ‘Yeah are you aright Yeah?’ and then ‘ yeah yeah isn’t it right grand out today? It’s well good this fair, int it?” and then something mostly unintelligible yet still somehow understandable due to the common patterns of intonation. In fact, it was possible to understand 90% of someone’s intentions just by following along with the intonation even if the words made no sense at all.
Harry at the Steamed Pudding booth: 'Eeh you aw riyte then?'
Me: Yes thanks I'm fine. And you?'
Harry: 'ye'h yeh I'm awright' Cracking good wi the gnarl out conder?'
Me: 'Umm, no I shouldn't think. Maybe tomorrow'
Harry: You won't need to brug da sheer will ye HAH AHAAHA'
Me: 'No I won't HAHAHHAHA'
Harry: 'Well ta and will ye have anutha afore ya do?
Me: Yes, how nice. Thanks!
Harry: Eh?
Me: oh I mean, yes, on Thursday.
Harry: Awright then ye be awright then yeah?
Me: Only if you do hahahah...
Harry: HAHAHHAHAHAH yeh awriyte! Tindy awn da gur!
Me: you too!
Harry:
That's right - made no sense at all but somehow we had a nice conversation.
After one more pass around the fair grounds, we reluctantly headed for the car, wondering if it would be a reasonable thing to fly in to Cumbria next year on this weekend just to come to the fair again.
On our way out, the fox hounds were being let out into the main ring. They can no longer hunt foxes here, but they still go on 'hunts' where they chase a fake fox or rabbit.
I know you're all dying to see them so here's the clip: Fox Hounds of Skelton
On the way home we stopped for a pub dinner in an adorable village and made a detour to see a donkey that everyone had seen on an earlier walk who was, alas, not at home, but it was beautiful anyway.
Thanks for reading,
Jane
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