Anyway one particular fete, at which the band plays, has long been our favourite event as the Small Dole Horticultural Society have a huge marquee in which are displayed a variety of flowers and vegatables grown by members or local people. Also there are categories for painting, crafts, photography and a baking section. David and I used to wander around the tents admiring the entries and seeing who had won each class. We always said that we would have a go ourselves one day - so three years ago while I was on maternity leave we placed our first entries.
The 2012 show was our third show and as ever we prepared our entries with little hope of any success.
David had always been disappointed that one of the classes he enters (Class 32 five potatoes) does not have a cup or trophy attached to it, as he would like to have the chance to compete for an award. As it was our tenth wedding anniversary this year, as a surprise I purchased a cup and had it engraved with his name and then I sponsored the potato class.
Unfortunately we had selected which classes to enter before David dug up his produce. We were rather disappointed with the mangy results but decided we would enter anyway with the best of what we had managed to grow. We were a little embarrassed about the severe lack of quality but could see hoped the judges could see the funny side of our lame efforts.
Much to our good fortune, all the local gardeners had also had a very bad growing season and everyone had been afflicted with blight. This meant that David's were the only entries in the beetroot, carrots and potato sections.
Despite being the only entry, David was awarded second place for his beetroot (clearly they were not of a sufficient standard to merit a first place award).
The carrots were even worse and were rated third place.
The potatoes had a third place label on the card but I assume as the organisers knew I had gone to such a lot of effort to surprise my husband with a cup that they thought they had better award it. Therefore a first place sticker was also placed on the card and David was announced as the winner!
At least he will get his name on the cup at least once!
I entered all twenty-one classes in Section 8 Cooking and preserves and had a remarkable day.
In class 120 everyone was given the same recipe to cook an Orange Fruit Teabread. There were well over twenty entries in the class and every cake looked slightly different. I could not believe it when I entered the tent to find that I had won first place!
Class 121 Any pot of jam I entered my strawberry and Vanilla jam and came third.
My Four Fruit and Whisky marmalade came second.
I came first with my lemon curd.
My Pineapple and Mint jelly secured third prize which was quite a surprise as I had accidentally added way too much mint.
My Lemon Drizzle cake won first prize again for the second year which was very pleasing.
My shortcrust sausage rolls were another surprise winner - they were far too large and flaky for my liking but they came first so that was a result.
My three boiled beetroot came second but there were only two entries in that class so I don't think that really counts.
I didn't do so well in class 128 which was a jug of Home-made summer drink. Being short of time I had decided to enter my Limoncello which I had in the freezer left over from Christmas gifts I made last December. It probably wasn't what they really wanted as it is more of a liqueur than a long drink and also it is best drunk ice cold rather than warm.
The ones that won prizes had lovely decorations, slices of fruit and sugar coated glasses so presentationally looked much nicer too. It
would have been nice to taste a few entries.
My rock cakes came third which is a great improvement on last years (which looked more like dis-cus than rocks) but obviously still haven't quite got the recipe perfect yet!
First prize for my cheese scones (my mother thinks I take after her with my scones)
My caramelised onion chutney which took first prize last year took second prize this year. I forgot to take note of what chutney won first place.
My three stuffed tomatoes in class 132 took second prize. David and I had eaten one (an extra one that I had cooked) for lunch and they were yummy so I had hoped they would do well.
My decorated sponge cake with butter icing in class 133 was a Coconut and lime cake. I had been struggling to think how to decorate it but having watched the Great British Bake off last week I stole my inspiration from a lady who had piped large pink and cream roses all over a cake. As the icing was lime flavoured I decided to do green and cream coloured icing (admittedly green roses do exist but are not very well known!). Anyway as a first effort with piping I was quite pleased with the result albeit not as well executed as the lady on the Great British Bake off. That is I was quite pleased until (a) David said "what's that supposed to be - is it a cabbage? oh sorry didn't mean cabbage, I meant lettuce" then he reminded me that the lady who had done the roses on the TV programme had been the first one asked to leave the competition. Then my dad laughed when I told him I had done green roses. And to top it off Seb came home from camp and took one look at the cake and he too asked me if it was a lettuce!!
Anyway thankfully the judges were much kinder and they awarded me first place.
However, I thought that my first place wasn't really deserved as another lovely lady had produced a beautifully decorated union jack flag cake with exquisitely neat piping. I still cannot understand why she did not win the first prize and I felt very guilty. It didn't help that by the time everyone was allowed into the tent to see the exhibits that in the stiffling heat my butter iced roses had all melted and were sliding off the cake so it really didn't look very good at all.
My chocolate brownies were another surprise first-prize as I had been quite disappointed with them as they didn't seem to cook as well as usual. Obviously they tasted better than they looked.
My five squares of bread pudding came third. This was another class with not many entries (i.e. 3) so again no real glory there as the other way to look at it is that I came last!!
My caramelised onion quiche came second - I was pleased with that as part of the crust had gotten knocked off as I was transferring it to the plate.
My Rum and Rasin fudge took first prize. I didn't think my fudge was very good either as when I made it it had more of a toffee texture and was so sticky I had to roll it in icing sugar before I could cut it. Obviously a few days in the fridge and the icing sugar had helped it firm up and I think it taste quite nice - you can definitely taste the rum!
My five bread rolls were awarded second prize which I was delighted with as it was the first time I have ever made bread.
My Cottage loaf took third prize. Again I was pleased with the prize as I had not practiced before hand and was up at 4.30am to bake my loaf before the show. However, my cottage loaf did not have as nice a shape or finish as other entries. I didn't think to dust mine with flour or seeds like some of the others did but I will know for next time.
My picnic for two in a basket (Hamper) did not win a prize but I received a Highly Commended stamp. I was a little disappointed with that one as I had ensured everything in my picnic was home-mae including the lemonade whereas the entry that came third had bananas, packets of crisps and cans of pimms. I also don't think the judges actually tasted what we had included in our menu so perhaps they did it more on presentation and picnic selection than on taste. The lady that won had done an amazing beach themed hamper together with seagull and even a sandcastle - ingenious!
My parents did quite well too. I entered my dad Philip into two of the art classes for a watercolour painting and another painting of any media except watercolour and he came third with both paintings.
My mum won first prize for her patchwork sampler quilt and second prize for her handknitted cardigan.
Finally I won third prize for my photograph of 'my village' and first prize for my photo of 'a funny face'. Seb came second with his photo of a funny face. Both our photos were of Nathaniel. not sure that is such a good thing really - a son who was the subject of two prize winning photos of a funny face!?!
Anyway all-in a really excellent day and David came away with his trophy for the potatoes and I won two trophies (the Adur Perpetual Trophy and the Gluckstein Cup) and a cash prize for the highest number of points in Section 8.
To end the day we went over to my mother-in-law's for tea and then she took David, Nathaniel and I to the circus which Nat loved. We were sat right in the front row and he really enjoyed being squirted with water pistols by "the funny man" (clown).
In bed by 11pm and crashed out exhausted!
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