Lambeth Country Show 2015
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The Day
Summary
A fantastic day out and Lambeth Country Show 2016 is already in my diary
On the way to Brockwell Park it was easy to see that it was going to be a packed day for the Lambeth Country Show with streams of people walking in the same direction looking ready to soak up sun and culture …
We decided to start the day off with a little exploring in the flower zone, the chance to see different plants and herbs. Although I should probably confess I spent most of that time eyeing up the different competitions; fruits, vegetables and vegetable sculptures (notably, an avocado and cauliflower Lady and the Tramp, and a Jon Snowbergine). Lastly, my favourite, the scarecrow competition, many of the scarecrows were inspired by this year’s love theme including a proposal scarecrow holding up a placard reading “Neil, will you marry me?” and now with the addition of a little note “He said yes!”.
We picked up some Pimms on the way to the Farm Zone and took a break to rehydrate watching the kids, somewhat jealously, enjoy the children’s funfair and whizzing down the massive blow up slide, wandering if we could get away with joining in. At the Vauxhall City Farm section we saw from a short distance the meerkats, chinchillas and snakes; the braver ones held a millipede and let it crawl over their hands, I was one of the ones who hid behind a friend instead. The larger animals were in more interactive pens where you could reach in and stroke or feed them; chickens, turkeys, goats and rabbits, I took the opportunity to stroke one of the goats, it wasn’t as soft as I imagined.
The joy of the LCS is that there’s so much happening, on the way to meeting up with friends I stopped to watch part of the Ridgeside Falconry Display Team and had a little jig when I passed by brass band Brasstermind marching in the other direction. Looking around the market tents in the Village Green was the opportunity to check out and buy crafts, speciality teas, home baked cakes, pottery, jewellery, dolls clothes and more.
I spent a fair amount of time strolling in the sunshine, listening to music from the Village Green stage and deciding which of all the tasty looking food stalls to visit, all in the name of good blogging , of course. I first tried roasted sweet potato with tamarind sauce from Bun Kabab I loved the flavour but wished the sweet potato had been more crispy. The jerk chicken pizza from Agile Rabbit was very tasty. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to try any of Drunken Dairy’s ‘booze-infused’ ice creams or sorbets, they were sold out by the time we got there, they sounded great and must’ve been in high demand in the summer heat.
For the first time this year I sampled some of the popular Chucklehead cider, handily sold in large milk bottles with a bunch of plastic cups so you didn’t have to keep queuing up for your next pint. It had a refreshing taste but wasn’t really my cup of tea, or, I suppose, my glass of cider; I prefer a bit more fizz.
As the evening went on we were trying to make the most of the LCS before we had to say goodbye for another long year, by eating currywurst (German sausage with curry sauce) and freshly made churros with hot chocolate dipping sauce, both were delicious, perhaps more delicious for sharing them in the sunshine with my friends. We finished the day at the main stage listening to the uplifting performance from Sunday’s headliner Kenyatta Hill (from the reggae band Culture). Kenyatta, his band and his audience, who were singing and dancing along, created a sense of revelry and delight in the pleasure of a simple summer evening of music, singing and dancing.
It was a fantastic way to end. I can’t wait for next year.
