After noting the whereabouts of their parked cars relative to the windblown hedgerow trees, visitors converge on the entrance to Launceston’s one-day agricultural show.
Cloud shrouds Kit Hill to the south but Caradon, Kilmar Tor and Hawk’s Tor on Bodmin Moor, as well as nearby wind turbines, are silhouetted against an increasing expanse of blue sky.
First in sight, tethered to railings, a docile family group of sleek South Devons – bull, cows and calves – rest, rosetted after their prizewinning turn in the judging ring. Cattle and sheep, the stars of this rural show, are watched over by attentive owners who act as beauticians, currycombing and hairspraying their charges.
Some of the continental breeds of sheep wear special coats to protect frizzy fleeces from catching straw before the animals parade before specialist judges.
A young girl expertly leads out her steer (still with its “baby teeth”) and, in the butcher’s beef class white-coated handlers soothe their halter-led heifers as the judge prods flesh before assessing conformation as the beasts trot around him.
Horses prepare for 50 or so classes in another field, where riders school their mounts. Hairy fetlocks of shires are given a final shampoo, and ladies’ skirts are decorously arranged for the side-saddle classes. A pair of heavy horses with plaited, decorated manes and jingling brass-hung harness are hitched to a 1934 Massey Harris dung spreader for their final showing and much appreciated appearance.
Past the trade stands, shiny modern machinery, refreshments, entertainments and craft displays, near the dog show crowing Wyandottes and Welsummers vie for attention in the poultry tent. Eggs are arranged on saucers of grain and children watch chicks hatch in an incubator; a rare Coucou de Rennes fowl is cuckoo-coloured, and profuse feathers cover the little Brahma bantam “right down to its toes”.
After the grand parade, dark clouds encroach. Cattle bellow and sheep lie down in anticipation of rain. As people head for the car park and homewards, patches of sunlight still glide across Dartmoor on the far eastern horizon.
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