THIS year's Great Yorkshire Show was the biggest ever.

The attendance at the three-day event was higher than at any time in the show's 167 years.

Between the gates opening on Tuesday morning and closing on Thursday night, 134,810 people passed through them.

That beats the previous best of 131,075, set 26 years ago in 1979 -and sets a higher target for future shows.

The total was undoubtedly assisted by scorching weather for most of the show, and provided the icing on the cake for honorary show director Christopher Hall.

He was stepping down from his post after seven years, and said his last show had been marvellous.

He said: "The weather has been superb. There have been record-breaking entries in the livestock classes. We have had more trade stands than ever before, and now we have the news of the attendance figures. The Great Yorkshire Show is the finest show in the country, and I am sure it will continue to go from strength to strength."

The show was brought to a close by the Army's Normandy Band, after which Mr Hall handed over his crook of office to successor Bill Cowling.

He then left with his wife, Jackie, in a landau drawn by two coloured horses to applause from the grandstand crowds.

Mr Cowling, who farms at Pannal, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, was formerly the show's chief cattle steward and a member of its council and executive committee, and chairman of Yorkshire Agricultural Society's grants and education committee.

His first task as honorary show director will be to head the annual debrief, before continuing plans for the show's sister event, Countryside Live, on October 29 and 30, and next year's Great Yorkshire Show, the 148th, which will be held from July 11 to 13.