Each year, for the last weekend of September, the beautiful North Yorkshire village of Masham hosts it's annual Sheep Fair, and this year is it's 25th anniversary.
Historically sheep used to be bought and sold in the market-town's square; These days it's more about the competition to show the best sheep of each breed (think of it as a sheepy miss-world competition for the local farmers!)
There's a great atmosphere, with lots to see and do, and much of the village and local businesses helping out. Money raised by the event is donated to charity (i think the main beneficiary this year was to help people affected by the floods in pakistan)
Below you'll find some of the photos i took througout the day on Saturday (Sunday pretty much mirrors Saturday's schedule if you're reading this in time). Be sure to check out the sheep racing photos - my favourite part of the day :-)
The sheep arrive....
The farmers arrive early with their sheep and transfer them to the pens
Preparation is key, this guy spent an awful lot of time trimming and preparing his sheep, and it was no suprise he came first
A sheep waiting for the judging to commence
The Countess
Don't suppose you have a tissue i could have?
Ever had the feeling you're being watched?
The judging...
The judging of the sheep
The judging of the sheep
Judging of the sheep
Part of the juding process involves pretending to be a teapot, to see the sheep's response
Winner
The fair gets quite busy by lunchtime
Sheep Racing!
There are 6 races each day, in 2 batches. The first batch around lunchtime are a straight race down the special long narrow sheep pen, the 2nd batch is "over the sticks" - the sheepy equivelent of hurdles!
As sheep are quite lazy animals and a bit skittish, they need to be "encouraged" to race. This takes the form of a man running infront of them shaking a bucket of feed :-)
Before each race, the spectators can place bets on the outcome (the sheep wear coloured ribbons on them) - if your sheep wins you double your money; The profits are donated to charity.
Place your bets
Sheep Racing
Sheep reaching the finishing trough. Our money was on Tup-A-Ware (with the yellow ribon) - and she won this race :-)
That's one small step for sheep....
One giant leap for sheep-kind
The bishop blaize procession
Each day a procession takes place celebrating Bishop Blaize, the patron saint of weaving, as Masham was historically built around the wool and weaving industry
The main part of the Bishop Blaize parade is the local school children
The Bishop Blaize parade lead by the town cryer and band
