I SPENT a wonderful Thursday at the Great Yorkshire Show with two of my grandchildren.

During his closing speech, the master of ceremonies in the show ring highlighted events from the three days of the show.

His last reference though, was to point out the success of the show, alongside the Tour de France as it made its way through Yorkshire.

He paid particular attention to the magnificent shots of the county in newspapers and on TV and the fact that those images of Yorkshire went out around the world.

He extolled a deserved tribute to the custodians of that countryside; the hill farmers with their flocks of mainly Swaledale sheep, the beef farmers with their Aberdeen Angus and Galloway cattle.

They’re ones who tend the hedgerows, repair and renew the dry-stone walls and keep the lovely country pubs open when the rest of us return to suburbia.

Food for thought, particularly if you are a realale drinking, designerclothed (outdoor of course), countryside-loving vegetarian.

Alan Jackson, Tudhoe.