VISITORS from across the region flocked to what is fast becoming one of the major countryside events at the weekend.

Countryside Live took place at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate on Saturday and Sunday, as it celebrated its tenth anniversary.

The little sister of the Great Yorkshire Show, the two day event opened to blue skies and sunshine.

There was success for Mark and Jane Gray who farm at Witton Gilbert in County Durham.

They were awarded the Tye Trophy for the best farm in the North of England, with judges describing their enterprise as “exceptional”.

The competition is run by the event organisers, Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Another winner was Sunderland pigeon breeder, Tony Braid, who won the Supreme Champion Fancy Pigeon with his Exhibition Fantail. “This means everything to me,” he said.

“I have won my classes before but never the championship.”

One of the most popular spectator-events was the One Man and His Pig contest, where competitors had to race pigs against the clock over an obstacle course.

Chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Nigel Pulling, was one of those to take part in the pig-herding.

As well as the animal classes, there were plenty of fun activities including mountain biking, ferret racing, archery and a fashion show for sheep, which involved different breeds taking their turn on the “sheepwalk” whilst owner Richard Savory explained their differences.