THOUSANDS of visitors made the most of a scorching Saturday in Monmouthshire by soaking up the sights, the sounds, and the smells at the annual Usk Show.
This year's event marks the 175th anniversary of what has grown into one of the biggest one-day agricultural shows in the UK.
The main focus of the show – agricultural excellence – has remained unchanged over the years, and this time around farmers battled it out across 11 different livestock categories.
Show staples like sheep and cattle competitions were accompanied by rather more modern distractions. It would be interesting to know what the show's founders in the 1840s would have made of the camel racing.
Joseph's Amazing Camels drew some of the biggest crowds of the day, all eager to cheer on the animals and their brightly-coloured jockeys.
Other crowd-pleasers included the ever popular equestrian events, and those who braved the hot afternoon sun enjoyed smart dressage and showjumping performances.
Contests weren't limited to the outdoors, however. The horticulture and homecraft tents showed off an abundance of local talent, from jams and cakes to floral arrangements and super-sized vegetables.
A packed food hall contained an impressive array of local produce, including fiery hot sauces, gooey brownies, and commendable variety of ciders.
Across the showground, the smell of grilled meat wafted gently through the air, leading visitors to a mouth-watering range of food trucks and stalls – many of which were cooking meat sourced from farms in the region.
The popularity of the Usk Show meant that some visitors had issues driving to and from the showground, with long queues of traffic on the A40 at around midday, followed by gridlock in the car parks as people started to leave later in the afternoon.
This was compounded, the show revealed on its Facebook page, by the disappointing news the event had been "let down by [the] park and ride bus company" – prompting some last-minute scrambling for reinforcements.
But despite these traffic problems, the atmosphere within the showground and the gorgeous weather meant that this special anniversary edition of the Usk Show was a day to remember, for all the right reasons.
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