THE jewel in the crown of Hampshire agricultural shows is coming to Alresford next month.

The show on Saturday September 4 aims to match the record-breaker of 2009 which enjoyed perfect weather after the unprecedented wash-out of 2008.

Show organisers are keen to stress that they have been working hard on traffic management and parking to ensure there is no repetition of last year’s queues.

The show takes pride in being traditional and quintessentially English, with its horticultural tent, produce and craft tents, WI, the Hampshire Hunt Hounds, Sandhurst and Aldershot Beagles, and white-coated farmers displaying cattle.

There will also be sheep, pigs, buffalo, alpacas, bee displays, ferrets, poultry, donkeys, heavy horses, and horse competitions.

A bus service from Alresford fire station will run to the showground at Tichborne Park.

A main attraction this year are the Pony Club Games, described as ‘fun, fast and fantastic’. Four local pony clubs will compete.

As a traditional agricultural show with its charitable roots in agricultural education we have a large ongoing education programme run with the help of Sparsholt College and involving 13 primary schools in and around the Winchester area.

Among the local schools involved are Sun Hill, Preston Candover, Medstead, Four Marks, Itchen Abbas and Cheriton.

The schools are assigned an adopted farm for one year, which they visit and then undertake Countryside Projects to help the children broaden their understanding of the land, wildlife and how food is produced.

The projects are judged and the winner awarded a Trophy at the Alresford Show at 2.30pm.

Monies raised at the Alresford Show are redistributed annually by The Show society to charities in and around Alresford.

Tickets for adults are £10.50 in advance and £12 on the day, senior citizens £6.50 (£8); children under 14 free is accompanied by fee-paying adult.

Tickets can be bought from: Alresford - Morgans Hardware and County News; Winchester – Scats (Winnall); Alton – Nationwide Building Society; Bishop’s Waltham – Post Office; Petersfield – Petersfield Post, High Street; Wickham – Scats.