THE CATTLE, sheep and goats may not have made it to this year's Durham County Show - but people still arrived in their droves to make the event a resounding success.

Following its cancellation due to the ravages of foot-and-mouth last year, this year's event started with a bang at its new venue.

With perfect summer skies adding to the attraction on Saturday, food stalls soon ran out of supplies and ice-cream vendors had to call for emergency assistance to help cool capacity crowds at Herrington Country Park at Penshaw on Wearside.

The weekend featured a busy programme of showjumping, pet shows and other side shows, including Scottish lumberjacks.

Not to be deterred by foot-and-mouth restrictions preventing him from bringing his sheep, sheepdog man Tom Longton put his border collies through their paces with geese and ducks 'straight from the pond.'

His valiant efforts to get the feathered flock into pens did pay off. "It does take them a while to see the entrance, they have small brains," he told patient spectators.

Show secretary Christine Duke said: "We have been absolutely overwhelmed by people. It has exceeded all our expectations.

"Visitors have come and supported us and hopefully they'll come back next year.

"We have kept entry fees low to encourage people to come with their families."

Established in 1841 and veterans of staging more than 100 shows, organisers were told in 1999 that they had to move from their traditional home at Lambton Park.

In 2000 the show was held in the Northern Area Playing Fields in Washington "just to keep it going" and last year foot-and-mouth saw its cancellation.

Mrs Duke praised Sunderland City Council, which offered the show a permanent home at the new Herrington Country Park - created on the site of a former quarry.

She said: "We are bang in the middle of the old County Durham.

"The 350 acres of land features an amphitheatre and fishing lake and the scope to expand and improve the show is endless."

She added: "On Saturday the park attracted up to 25,000 people, which is what we would have had over the whole weekend at the old venue.

"All the food people ran out of supplies and the ice-cream man had to call for emergency backup."

The spreading of 'malicious rumours' had led to some entrants not coming. But this did not detract from an encouraging showing.

Mrs Duke said: "We decided not to have cattle, sheep or goats this year to give the farmers who suffered from foot-and-mouth another year to recover."

But Houghall College did have some sheep shearing and calves. There were about 800 horse and pony entries, 240 poultry entries and 50 entries in the industrial produce section.

Sunderland City Council landscape and reclamation manager Keith Hamilton said: "Durham County Show is an important annual event and what better home could it have than Herrington Country Park.

"This park has something for everybody and will become a much-loved part of the Sunderland landscape for generations to come."