By: Susan & Gemma Henshaw
An early morning start for us as we had a two-hour journey up the M1 to Rushcliffe Country Park in Ruddington, Nottingham for the Chalfield DTC 50th Anniversary show. The directions given on the schedule were very straightforward and coming off at junction 24 we were able to find the park with ease. We were met by a gentleman who directed us through the public area into the showground, which had plenty of parking space and enough room around the vehicles for tents etc, without being crammed in.
Once we had seen to the dogs we headed across towards the ring area to book in and have a look around. There were trade stands to one side of the rings including one selling a good mixture of toys, biscuits and other dog items, another selling dog coats and a charity stand selling a mixture of items. Competitor catering was well covered, a large van selling a wide variety of delicious smelling food of which we just had to partake of a breakfast bap and then a burger at lunchtime. Along another side of the ground there was a drinks van, similar to those that frequent business/trade parks, and this was a coffee lovers little piece of heaven, all types of hot coffee’s and teas, iced coffee’s, flavoured syrups and fruit smoothies. We can certainly vouch for the quality of the drinks and the service.
The rings themselves were of a good size, well laid out across the ground and with plenty of space in-between them. Set to one side of the ground was the stay ring, a very long area bordered by tree’s which gave some shade on what turned out to be a very hot day. The only possible downside being that dogs and bitches were mixed and we did see a couple of dogs trying to get fruity with their neighbours.
Near to the car parking side of the ring area there was an added bonus of a free practise ring, not manned by anyone but just there for people to nip into and use when wanted, brilliant idea and it seemed to be in use for most of the day.
At lunch time we took a couple of the dogs and had a walk along one of the many tracks that went off from the ground, there are quite a few to choose from, some of them in amongst the tree’s which was welcome shade on a hot day. You need to be aware of joggers and members of the general public out for a stroll but there is plenty of room for everyone.
As you leave the parking area after the show you do drive off of the showground and out through a very public area of the park and the show does ask that you drive slowly and with your hazard lights on, which made a lot of sense when we saw how just how many people were enjoying this country park.
All in all a very well run friendly show, spacious grounds, plenty of exercise areas and good weather to boot.
Some of the lucky ones going home with the red rosettes at the end of the day were: Ruth Britton with her young WS ‘ Summertime Star of Remror’ who took first place in Novice D/B pt 3. Hilary Parsons and her WS ‘It’s Jaros D’Licious’ were the winners in Novice D/B Pt.1. The top spot in Pre Beginners was awarded to a delighted Jenny Weeks with her BC ‘Highfields Sam’e The Man’
It was good to see Sarah Delany bring her BSD Groen ‘Vanistica Twelfth Night’ out of retirement, ‘Wally’ is a lovely dog that works with such style and today they won the red rosette in Class A D/B Pt.1.
Earning their third Class A win was Mr A.M. Fox and his 2 yr old GSD ‘Foxfold Juneaux’ and taking the top spot in Class C D/B Pt.1. was Jenny Miller with her XB ‘Foxfold Unexpected Edition’