A quick trip from Lincoln to Coddingham then back track to Skeggness and then to Rockingham. The host at my hotel The Royal George thought I was nuts or lost until I pulled out prepaid tickets to the Rockingham County Fair and he said about a mile from here.

I try to broaden my awareness of country and county fairs by usually once a year attending one overseas and looking at what they offer and how they run their event. Last year it was a delightful three days at Tumcumari in Arizonia,USA this year a quick Goggle search threw up the Rockingham County Fair so armed with a hotel booking in the area and two prepaid tickets that was to be todays visitation.

We took the scenic village route and found a very nice morning tea stop at the Copper Kettle. A gentleman Kevin was seated by himself and soon I wandered over to make myself known to him. It turned out he was a farmer so the questions on crops, livestock,marketing,investment and inheritance were all answered for me.

Nearing the end of the conversation he told me he was a biker with a number of motorcycles with his Triumph Rocket 3 being the everyday rider while his Triumph Trophy was the favourite. As much time passed I was again about to leave when he revealed that this August he was participating in a ride of Route 66 (no not with Eagle Riders Harley's) that allowed ex soldiers who have been injured to become pillion passengers both from the United Kingdom and the United States.

This journey allowed me to see up close the sugar beet crops that we had seen in Europe but never got close to.

However as I only had around 94kms from Lincoln I arrived well before dinner,far too early to retire for the night. The hotel happily checked us in as their only guests and allowed me to take the bags to our room.

the Royal George was chosen also as it had won Inn of the Year in 2017 and this year 2018 was awarded Pub of the year. I had an extended conversation with the owner and his wife about the running of the hotel,how they came to purchase outright the freehold (it was owned by a hotel group who numbered in the thousands their ownership and in their books this pub was no longer returning on their investment so they sold and walked out leaving all the equipment & furniture a bonus for the new owners.

The 120km trip to Skegness was to see the illuminations and accompanying fireworks display. Skegs is a typical English holiday location on the east Coast with the usual Billy Buntin's holiday camp, loads of amusements and shops selling inflatibles, sunhats,bathers,deck chairs,rock candy and of course abounding in Fish & Chip shops.

Still with time to spare despite again routing via B roads and villages we were very much still hours away from the turning on of the lights and as Tom Tom number 3 was not charging the local Tesco store became a welcome haven. A comfortable chair in the diner and a new wall plug and lead number 4 or 5 of the trip had Tom Tom happy,us seated and looking at the luming dark cloud banks. With England in a drought and record high temperatures it couldnt happen but yes the rains came with lightning and high winds. It was obivious that no fireworks or lights display was going to happen so the quickest route even using motorways was punched into Tom Tom and we headed off in the storm.

Cars were either moving slowly or pulled over neither a good mix so I quickly cleared most traffic and disappeared in a Westerly direction but had flooded roads,small trees across the road and numerous accidents to contend with before arriving back at The Royal George where not a single drop of rain had fell.

10am next morning had us in the grounds of Rockingham Castle the venue of the fair.

Grounds was the correct description of these showgrounds have not a single permanent building erected but annually Hocker tents and star pickets with tape appear and house the indoor displays or mark the arenas.

Luckily I have attended an English County Fair before otherwise on first impressions one might turn and leave.

This County Fair had livestock but very little in the way of competitions. Instead examples of rare goats such as the Alpine Goat and Pygmy Goat were shown along side birds of Prey that flew later as an attraction.

Sideshows were from one supplier and basically catered for under 10's with jumping castles,trampolines etc.

The Arts & Crafts tent was full of traders most of whom offered free samples especially the food and drink merchants including Applejack (which I was repeatly told was not apple cider) and mead drinks.

Commercial food vendors offered a wide range as the photos of menu's show along with ice cream and yoghurt cones but no fairy floss or cotton candy! Nor was their a single Dagwood Dog or Pluto Pup to be found.

Many of the 20-30 displays around the grounds were interactive historical trades and customs such as Vikings,Sword fighting ,wheelwrights,stone Masons ,leather workers,metal workers and wood carvers. Most of whom offered examples for sale.

The antique machinery group all had scale model working steam engines many of which offered rides.

Dogs of all breeds,colours and sizes almost outnumbered people. the dogs were all catered for with many enjoying the opportunity to participate in a dogs steeplechase or agility ring at their leisure. Many also participated in a dog musical ride come obedience display in one of the two fenced off arenas. Still other's took their Masters and Mistresses out for the day.

A different display was that of Northampton Emergency Services Cadets. Here young people from age 13 can join the generic cadet unit and receive skills in aspects of emergency services,role playing,practical life skills,first aid,teamwork,rank structure,leadership skills,confidence building etc then at age 16 they can chose to specialise and join from three selected Emergency Services.

The choice maybe to become a Fireman(junior fireman?) with Fire & Rescue where they attend actual incidents as support staff.

They may join the Ambulance Service and attend actual callouts.

The third area is the Police Force here they again join and are permitted to accompany Officers to a selected range of jobs but in realality a vast range of Police callouts are available to them.

Many of the cadets have then joined as a Career Officer having obtained all the basic units of instruction while in the Cadets.

It reminded me of the use of motorcyclists in the UK who volunteer as Emergency Despatch riders and while suppling their own motorcycles carry lights & sirens as they are often called upon to carry urgent blood or medical supplies. Others are used as Emergency Motorway Assistance Officers, makes life in Australia dull when many services have very limited use of motorcycles by even full time Officers let alone Volunteers.

The main arena served as a continuous entertainment area. here to be featured was Jez Avery stuntman and a group of horses that well to be honest apparently were involved in an accident on the way to the fair and despite repeated assurances they would perform later in the day had not materialised by the fairs end on day 1.

So Mr Jez Avery was No 1 outside paid entertainer so would he hold the crowd?

Jez has a mulitple vehicle act involving mountain bikes,trials motorcycles,a quad bike and a specialised Honda Quad type cross with an off road buggy.

Did the crowd like him? Well he did introduce an Australian rider to the crowd that got lots of claps as I took a bow! Thanks Jez.

His act showed skill in all aspects of machine handling both on two and four wheels and of course the mountain bike mono's when the front wheel was removed. So at 49 yrs of age fitness was not a factor as he pedalled the mountain bike from sitting on its front forks on the ground into a mono immediately that was maintained for a full lap of the arena.

The trials bike was utilised in precision controlled manouvers of skill plus mono's and stoppies.

The Kawasaki Quad was the roll over vehicle that delighted the audience as Jez always managed to finish the roll over sequence back on its own four wheels.

The Honda Pilot was used amongst other things to drive around the arena on two wheels only as we in Australia have seen the Holden Precision Driving team do and in their later reincarnations as V8 Storm Riders etc etc.

So is he better then our own Famous Stunt Man David Russell who incidently is currently performing in the United States in Monroe California if my memory serves me correctly, well both have records in the Guinness book of World records, both show determination and very high levels of skills, both are crowd pulling showman, both have suffered serious injury while performing so is that a tie?

No both have unique acts that differ in ability so I guess I am privedged to know both and to have seen their entertainment abilities on display.

The weather forecast was ideal,23oC and cloud cover did that happen well no. the whole day was windy and at times so strong that tents and displays became missiles as one photo shows and then 1 hour before closing time the heavens opened and we set sail, well drove, some 200kms South using the M1 & M25 to Crawley near Brighton. Why Crawley well read later chapters of the blog for an exciting change of events that will have us leaving Barrington Lodge early in the morning.