A Day Out at Biddenden Tractorfest

Biddenden Tractorfest and Country Fair, an annual event. Let’s start with the basics: Wear sensible shoes. The ground has a tendency to undulate and it takes half an hour to get your “farmers legs”.

It’s the sort of event where dogs and children are welcome and where you can’t help bumping into old friends and chatting to strangers. Hungry? Thirsty? No problem, there is beer, cider and wine for the grown ups and juice based drinks for the kids. Food ranged from Thai to Welsh (rarebit that is) with all the traditional English staples alongside. If tea and cake is your weakness, you can indulge. And don’t worry there are plenty bathroom facilities, I didn’t see a queue all day!

Learn some country skills: see how to shear a sheep, buy a deer’s foot for your next knife handle project, watch a big tree trunk being cut into sections then into boards. There are birds of prey, including an owl that looks like Hedwig, and a scary looking vulture. If you prefer furry and gentle, come and stroke some rabbits, ducklings, chicks; or bigger: how about a donkey or three? And there was a gentle giant: the big Shire Horse pulling the Harvey’s dray full of beer barrels. A common sight 150 years ago, a rare treat today.

“It’s just like the County Show used to be!”. If I had a pound for every time I heard that today my pockets would be bulging. The new venue at Woolpack corner has plenty of space: 3 show areas, displays of cars, motorbikes, dogs and of course tractors. I almost forgot to mention the tractors. Tractors of all sizes, shapes and colours from tiny steam driven ride-on miniatures to full grown monsters with tyres taller than me.