What is everyone talking about this week: Why Britain's county shows are thriving
As Labour continues to sideline those in the countryside, seven million people are flocking to county shows this summer to sample rural life at its most tangible.
Almost every year, the largest crowd in Britain can reliably be found at Glastonbury. Some 210,000 revellers cram into a site spanning 1,100 acres and let loose to the sound of music until the cows come home. Not this year. Worthy Farm, which hosts the festival, is taking a backseat. The cows are home and need no summoning.
It seems fitting, therefore, that some of the largest crowds of 2026 should gather around a tribute to farm life. The Royal Welsh Show in Powys expects to welcome up to 65,000 people a day (July 20–23) and the Royal Bath & West, which took place in Somerset on the last week of May, registered just under half of Glastonbury’s total capacity in only three days.
County shows are frequented by seven million people each year. There are as many as 156 across the country, and they have been held, in one form or another, since the 18th century. Beginning as informal gatherings for local folk eager to trade savoir-faire across craft and farming, they later morphed into a premial and educational showcase of country living, held on permanent showgrounds since the 1960s. Perhaps surprisingly, they are growing more popular. What by urbanite maxims could have spelt their eventual decline has, instead, proven a boon. Championing the very traditions held in contempt by vegans and agrofuturists has allowed the county show to appeal, ironically, to city dwellers — many of them young parents with small children, who now make up the shows’ primary attendees.
Those seeking a connection to the land that feeds them are beginning to realise what has long been obvious to the farmer: that agriculture is a conduit to culture itself. Sheep shearing, livestock parades and Shetland pony racing all offer a glimpse into our agrarian heritage. ‘The young ones,’ wrote Philip Larkin in 1973’s Show Saturday, ‘thunder their ponies in competition/Twice round the ring.’ Businesses are catching on. The Newt in Somerset is hosting its very own Summer Farm Show, on July 4–5. ‘The farm is intrinsic to who we are,’ says Charles Freeman, head of sales. Tickets at £35 each will be open to members and up to six guests. ‘We are transforming the paddock,’ Charles explains, ‘into a space for demonstrations of traditional farming methods, welly wanging, and a dog and duck show.’
Besides its educational purposes, it is also somewhere for people to let their hair down. Michael Eavis, founder of Glastonbury, now sponsors the Bath & West’s Pilton Tent: a music marquee which show director Rupert Uloth tells me was full to the brim on both Friday and Saturday nights.
This feature originally appeared in the June 10, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
