The Royal Norfolk Show

Unfortunately for everyone involved The Suffolk Show was almost literally a washout this year with heavy rain on the first day and the second being cancelled as force 9 gales were predicted to hit the showground in the middle of the day . It was the first time in it's 120 history that the show had to be cancelled because of the weather and it was a very sad day for everyone involved. On a more positive note we are looking forward to being back at Trinity Park next May and hopefully the sunshine will join us.

After The Suffolk the next big show of the season for us is The Royal Norfolk - the photo above is of our marquee in our brand new area.  This year we moved to the top of the showground to be near our great friends Jo & Dave of Hotfooted.

A lot of preparation goes into taking our shop to a big county show. At The Suffolk and Sandringham Flower Show we have marquees that are 9m x 6m, the one at The Norfolk is slightly smaller but still takes several days to plan and set up.

The first thing that we do as you can see from these two photos is mock up our stand in the shop so that when we arrive on set up day we know where everything is going to go. This ensures that the layout is not only visually pleasing to our customers but makes it easier for us to help them find what they are looking for. Well thats the theory anyway - inevitably by the time we pack up on the second day we have finally begun to find everything!

Our move nearer The Members and Countryside area was a huge success. We caught up with lots of our customers from the shop at Hackford, as well as ladies that we only ever see at the shows such as Judie & Jennifer from The Cattle Sheds  - both of whom 'invested' heavily in Tinta and Bariloche blouses! The only downside was we have lost our steward - The delicious Will - hopefully next year he will have time to visit Ave 4!!!

Unfortunately we were so busy chatting we did not have time to take photos of the rest of the show or indeed see much of it. Andrea managed to fit in a bit of retail therapy of her own and I quickly whizzed around the animals and spent a lovely half hour in the countryside area with my son Paddy.

Next weekend (July 14th & 15th) we are back at Trinity Park for the first ever Golf East (and our first golf show) and then it is a quick reckie at The CLA Game Fair before our favourite show of them all The Sandringham Flower Show.

If you have any show stories or indeed run one that you would like The Artichoke Girls to attend please drop us a line - we would love to hear from you.

Best Wishes

The Artichoke Girls

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