Great Dorset Mud Fair!

Every year, since I was a little girl, I've attended the Great Dorset Steam Fair with my family. Years ago, Dad created the Morris Minor LCV Register, a register of all surviving Morris Minor commercial vehicles, so we had a slot in the steam fair for displaying members of the club. Growing up, I've always loved the place for the funfair (largest one I've ever seen), and as I got older I started enjoying the night life (beer tents, live music!), and took to camping overnight to make the most of the event.

We've usually been really fortunate with the weather, too, but this year it's been raining. A lot. In all the years I've attended the steam fair, I think I've only encountered one really muddy event. Until this year! We've had reasonably decent weather until the past few days, but the rain has been torrential lately and sadly it has affected the fair. It was like a quagmire! And at first, it was really funny. The novelty of dancing around the mud and trying desperately to stay upright was really fun (dad was the only one of us who fell over!), but eventually, it kind of got the better of us. We couldn't enjoy the market (on a hill, it was hard to negotiate the way between the slipperiest mud, and many stalls had closed up already (or just plain not turned up)), we couldn't enjoy the funfair (it was too muddy it became a chore to even walk around it) and the craft tents felt smaller than usual, too. We usually take a while to look at the various displays and animals on show, but it wasn't really possible with the mud :( In the food hall, I bought some cheese, special flavoured brandy and a lot of cider. Kind of the same as usual, in that respect!

I adore the Great Dorset Steam Fair, and we'd usually go back on Saturday to check out the things we'd missed before, but it was just too much hard work in this weather, so I'm not sure if we'll bother unless it really improves. Such a shame, too. We look forward to this thing every year! Hopefully next year will be really sunny and lovely and we'll make the most of it again. Until then, have some photos of me, cider, and a whole lotta mud.