SMALL is beautiful for one West Oxfordshire farming family.

Alan and Anne Smith and their son Richard, who run Kingham Hill Farm, have been named the winners of the cup for the best small farm in the annual farm and crop competitions run by the Moreton-in-Marsh Show.

This year’s show in the Gloucestershire market town, just across the boundary from West Oxfordshire, takes place on Saturday.

The one-day agricultural, horse and country show is one of the biggest in the UK, with more than 20,000 people expected to attend.

The Smith family, who grow grass to produce silage and hay and also harvest wheat and oilseed rape, are no strangers to success in the show’s competitions, winning a string of prizes over the years for their crops and taking the champion farm title three years ago.

They were runners-up for that honour this year, behind the Brain family, of Peters Farm, near Broadway, but also took the prize for best permanent pasture.

The Smiths’ neighbour, Greg Dancer, of Manor Farm in Cornwell, won the best first or second year grass ley contest and the Kingham sector award for non-milling winter wheat, while Barton Abbey Farms, at Middle Barton, won the best commercial sheep flock prize.

The awards recognise farms within a 40-mile radius of Moreton-in-Marsh, with 29 farms in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire competing this year.

As well as traditional attractions including livestock competitions, showjumping and a companion dog show, Saturday’s event features a countryside area with a display by Countryfile TV presenter Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park, with Adam on hand from 1pm to 2pm, and a food hall packed with stalls offering the best produce from the Cotswolds.

There will also be performances by the Bolddog Lings motocross display team, the Jive Pony equestrian display team and the Coventry Corps of Marching Drums, plus a falconry display and more than 300 trade stands.

Moreton Show secretary Sally Lawton said: “Building on the success of last year’s 60th anniversary, this year’s Moreton Show promises to be even bigger and better.

"After yet another hard winter, the show offers farmers, exhibitors, local producers and the public an opportunity to come together to celebrate what we hope will be a prosperous year for all.”

The gates at the showground in Batsford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, open at 7.30am, with the showjumping starting at 8am. The gates close at 6pm For more details, see moretonshow.co.uk

  • Advance tickets, priced at £13.50 for adults, £4.50 for children aged five to 15 (under-fives free) and £35 for a family of two adults and up to three children are available online at moretonshow.co.uk, from Lloyds TSB Bank in Burford High Street and Tayler & Fletcher estate agents, in New Road, Chipping Norton.
  • Tickets on the gate will cost £16.50 for adults, £6.50 for children, and £42 for a family but those showing rail tickets valid for travel to Moreton-in-Marsh dated September 7 will pay the discount rate. Car parking is free of charge.

Cream of the Crop

Selected Moreton-in-Marsh Show competition results:

CW Smith & Son, Kingham Hill Farm:

  • Winner of the Tradesmen’s Cup for best small farm
  • Winner, best permanent pasture
  • Runner-up, champion farm
  • Runner-up, best long-term ley
  • Runner-up, best crop spring oilseed rape.
  • Third place, Kingham sector, best milling winter wheat 

Greg Dancer, Manor Farm, Cornwell:

  • Winner, best first or second year ley
  • Winner, non-milling winter wheat, Kingham sector
  • Runner-up, best working bull
  • Runner-up, best permanent pasture
  • Runner-up, best winter oilseed rape
  • Runner-up, non-milling winter wheat, champion crop
  • Runner-up, Kingham sector, best spring barley and winter wheat crops

David Hunt, Middle Brookend Farm, Chastleton & Dunthrop Farm, near Chipping Norton:

  • Third place, best spring oilseed rape.
  • Third place, best winter oilseed rape
  • Highly commended, winter barley, champion crop
  • Third equal, non-milling winter wheat, Kingham sector

Barton Abbey Farms, Middle Barton:

  • Winner of the Nancibel Gregory Memorial Trophy for best commercial sheep flock
  • Runner-up, best commercial ram.