Dulwich OnView

Steve Slack and friends spent a balmy Sunday afternoon at Lambeth Country Show.

It might seem like Brockwell Park is a long way from the countryside, but this weekend-long event seeks to bring a little rural life to an urban setting. It blends what you might expect of of a traditional county show – farmyard animals and owl displays – with fairground rides, a live music stage and lashings of Caribbean food.

We headed first for the traditional country pursuits – produce tent, miniature gardens, prize cakes and jams. The fruit and vegetable sculptures took my eye. Some ingenious child had crafted a penguin from an aubergine – a great idea for using up left over remnants of the organic veg box. A penguinine, perhaps?

We inspected owls and the birds of prey. We petted chickens and goats and grumpy sheep. We interrogated a hard liquor producer in the refined art of making poteen (apparently if you make it in a certain way, it’s not illegal any more.)

All this excitement (and poteen) had made us hungry, so we headed off to the open-air Caribbean food bazaar. Freshly cooked chicken off the barbeque and mutton curry with plantains and char-grilled corn on the cob, all coated with jerk spices and hot sauce. And don’t forget the rice and peas.

It was perhaps somewhat foolish of us then to head straight to the fairground rides. After being thrown around on a whirling contraption and regaining my balance there were only two things on my mind – cider and medieval jousting.

The organic cider from Devon comes in huge plastic flagons and is strong.

The jousting on horseback was an exciting spectacular, our enthusiastic cheers for the Green Knight egged on by the cider, no doubt.

That was the show…
… and now for the tell.

As if all this weren’t enough for an action packed day of fun we headed ourselves at the promised time to the main music stage to hear Aswad play.

But for some reason they were delayed coming on stage, so we waited awhile and continued enjoying cloudy cider on a summer evening.

Lambeth Council authorities then informed the throng of the relevant by-laws regarding live music in the park – an insistence that all the music had to be finished by 7pm. So, due to unforeseen delays, there was no Aswad to be had. No Shine and no Don’t Turn Around. Great, thanks Lambeth.

It was a bit of a downer at the end of the day, but we’d had so much fun for a free event we couldn’t complain too bitterly. And the effects of the cider were really taking hold by that point.

All in all, the country show is a grand day out. Owls, a petting zoo, prize-winning fruit and veg, horses, fine food and drink, fairground rides, live music… See you there next year.

Photos: with thanks to Alex Potsides