Although a good day out, is it just me but £18 to get in, £5 to park, £2 for a bottle of water, £5 for a crepe (no, not that) and £4 for a pastie, seem a bit rich. I don't think I' ll be going next year.

£18 to get in? Yes that's a bit steep, parking should be free at that price. Pasties, creepes and water are all optional things that you don't have to buy, although The West Cornwall Pasty Co charge about £4 in town, and they're not that great.

I stopped going years ago. It just struck me as odd to have to pay for he opportunity to have exhibitors market their goods to me. I have no interest in agriculture/livestock displays.

Parsons, further down the street, does them for £1.50 at lunch time at the present and they are good!

Must try them sometime, although I don't know the shop (where is it?). I hope they don't call them Cornish Pasties, though, since a Cornish Pasty can only be made in Cornwall

I've come across "pasties" made with flaky pastry, not to mention minced beef: sacrilege!

They are good actually, good cakes too.

Tickets were £14 in advance and some car parking was free with a courtesy bus provided.

My complaint is that the official show map did not show a road closure and left us being directed round in circles trying to find a particular car park. Upon leaving, we were directed into the village centre and then left with no show signing for the route back to town. We saw several cars pulled over and studying maps or sat navs.

Even with pre-purchased tickets, it is an expensive day out once you have eaten and the kids have had a few rides. It all seemed very commercialised to me, with most exhibitors being there in order to try to sell you something. The livestock and pets appeared shoved in one corner.

We left a bit disappointed.

I agree, the event is an out and out RIP OFF!

I bought tickets in advance to save money. The website was not much good; it did not say if using the bus service from Newbury in Thatcham was free or not or how much it would be.

I think it's rather a big ask to ask visitors to pay and extra £5 to park on top.

Then inside, its a huge trade show in essence, with many stallholders selling similar stuff: food, drink, jewellery, arts and crafts, garden tools and toys.

The food and drink stalls were outrageous. We took food and drink with us but had to get a drink: a staggering £2.20 for a bottle of Sprite! Disgraceful.

I'll not be rushing back!

Northbrook St. on the left facing North just before you get to Millets.
Quite a small shop, you can miss it!


What, you mean like a "Ginsters"?
Yuk!!

Has it been there long? Odd that I haven't come across it.


Agreed. Ginsters can legally call their pasties Cornish, but I for one wouldn't eat them.

I thought parking was free? well it was where we parked (went up to Hemitage along the B4009 and followed sign posts to park).

I always enjoyed pottering round the car stands and having a good poke around the cars without the hassle of normally going in to a showroom. This time however it would appear that most car makers decided to boycot the event and I can only recall seeing stands for Volvo, Skoda and Vauxhall........not the best!

The West Cornwall pasties are pretty good I think. As close as we get here to a pasty from Cornwall. A touch over salted at times though. I steer clear of all but the traditional filling. The ones from Parsons are vile. They are cheap for the same reason that Greggs pasties and pies are cheap - filled with slurry. The West Cornwall ones are filled with beef chunks and whole pieces of veg. I like 'em, though I doubt I eat more than two a year.

So did I & lot's of others, all it takes is a bit of forward planning . As for the complaints about Rip off Food Prices, it never ceases to amaze me, doesn't anyone realise Horse Burgers are around £4 wherever you go to these days. Simple answer really & its not that difficult, spend about 15 minutes the evening before & make a few sarnies, pack a slice of cake a bottle of pop & save a fortune !!

Or go to the food tents and try to eat as many free samples as possible.

Thanks for the warning about Parsons. I shall avoid them in that case. Nothing worse than a "pasty" filled with mince. You get what you pay for. Probably made with flaky, rather than short, pastry as well - a dead give-away.

And alcoholic beverages .

Perhaps trying them for yourself first might be an idea Jeff ! Instead of relying on hearsay from someone who for all you know might be an employee of West Cornwall Pasties .

I run the cafe at Newbury Station and I was going to keep quiet, but our pasties are excellent, anyone coming through from this forum can have 20% off as well (off everything, I'll give you a discount card), but we're hard to get too if you're not travelling on the train.

You could take telephone orders, then deliver to the ticket office!!!

If someone tells me a pasty contains minced-up meat and veg rather than chunks of beef, potato and turnip, then I am prepared to believe them, and not risk spending my money on one. Even if they were an employee of West Cornwall Pasties, telling lies about the opposition would not be good business practice. I have bought pasties from WCP in the past and very good they are too.

Unles you don't like mince, then I don't see what is wrong with a mince pasty!

Probably nothing, except that personally if I am going to have a pasty, I prefer a proper Cornish pasty. It could be something to do with the fact that my late wife was Cornish, so during many visits to the county I sort of got educated

Haven't eaten one for a while as every time I bought one in the past I'd have to work my way through several lumps of gristle and unappetising sinew disguised as meat, all smothered in E-numbered gloop.

I saw a programme not long ago where they said that to call a pasty 'Cornish' it had to be made in Cornwall, but surprisingly the filling could be from anywhere !!!!!!!

You must have ben unlucky. I have never had any gristle in a pastie from them. Do you have a link to the ingredients? I am sure preservatives are used, but I always thought there was very little in the way of "gloop" as you put it. I had one of their bacon rolls once and that was dry and inedible, but the pasties are good.

They've been very successful so they must be alright. Just really expensive!

I like the way they get kids to pet dogs that are bred and trained to hunt and rip apart a wild animal, and then probably destroyed when they reach the end of their "useful" life.

Nearly put me off pasties for life!

Going back to original thread, yes, can see what you mean. Always a lot of people round the doggie stands. I suppose it's the same mangled thinking some people seem to cope with. Same as being in RSPB and owning a cat....

I infer that you think cat owners are cruel to animals?

Yes, a very unpopular stand point I know, but domestic cats kill more wild birds than any other predator so I really can't see how cat owners can subscribe to the values of RSPB.

Unless it's a house cat

People who feed birds cause all sorts of problems.
Natural selection is there for a reason. People's need to interfere with nature is very annoying.

Are you sure about that?

Human activity is already interfering with nature, to the detriment of many of our native birds and mammals.
They need all the help they can get, so I will continue to put food out during the winter months, fit nesting boxes to my trees, and leave some untidy areas for cover.
I have been trying to create a frog colony for a few years now, but due to at least five cats patrolling overnight, they are not doing as well as they might.
If I had my way, I would make cat ownership the same as dog ownership, AND I would change the law to curfew them, as is done in Australia. Any tagged cat found outside would result in fines for the owners, and after three times, the cat should be put down.


You really can be very shortsighted sometimes.

I don't see allowing an animal to act out it instincts is cruel, unless they are cultivated for such an act of course. However, I think I know what you are getting at. We have too many pets, including dogs, which is damaging to the environment.


That is a good point MM, people should not feed wild animals except maybe, when food is scarce.

I do have an elderly and very ugly Persian Mog. She costs a fortune in clipping fees.
After some radical dentistry that hit my pocket hard she should be friendlier to little furry things,
but I was terrified of the fangs during a pill popping session. It may be too old now.
But my cats in the past have been occasional nightmares. Urban foxes too roam for prey in my garden.

On the other hand I was delighted when a barn owl took up a platform I had installed in an open cart-shed.
It was the eating place, and very appetising it looked by the remains of little furry things.

Back once again to the topic.. me? derail a thread
Such things as owl displays, in rural shows have to pay for their stalls and somewhere to park.
But I guess all the bits and bobs that have to be in place....Red Cross, police help, cost as well.
It does seem odd to be charged for going to a display that is offering to sell you something.
Who pays for O2 arms displays, surely not Somali warlords!
ce

.....Talking of feeding birds and causing problems...

Looking at SaveVickyPark's you tube channel. There is a hilarious clip of an advert for a Ford Ka ....and a pigeon.
Worth a look, I giggled at it anyway
ce