The South of England Show, Ardingly

I forget just how massive the South of England Show is!  Nik and I went along on the Friday in June to explore the stands, displays and shows and found so much to see, eat and drink, it was epic!  There is so much going on with plenty to entertain little ones and grown ups alike. We happened to be there "on duty" without the kids in order to take photos and make notes but we kept seeing things the twins would love and had we not already had plans to be at Woodlands family festival that weekend, we would have gone back on the Saturday with them.

My personal favourites were the blacksmith competitions, the wine walk, the motocross stunt bikers, the WI displays and of course, the shopping!  I bagged myself a bargain waterproof coat in a gorgeous bright yellow with polka dot lining, it's come in handy already with our somewhat wet June so far.

The Young Artisans tent was so inspiring with some truly gorgeous designs by such talented young people, we spotted a few from Uckfield College!  The three crowned winners ranged in age from 17 to 21.

The blacksmiths made for some awesome photo opportunities with the sparks, fire and steam against the dark backgrounds, it looks like such hard work (and it really is, I tried it once helping make a spike for St. Marks' Church gate back in 2017, see my sparky photo I took back then).

There were some beautiful flowers and brightly coloured WI made crafts in the WI/flower tent, there were lots of categories with some amazing interpretations in each craft competition, of course I was drawn to the rainbow ones ;)

The Wine Walk was informative and fun, we really enjoyed learning more about some of our local vineyards, I never knew there were so many and we've now been inspired to plan a tour of some East Sussex vineyards this summer which will make a great feature so watch this space come Autumn time!  Of course, having a few tasters of the various offerings was fun too, the English sparkling wines we have locally are truly wonderful!

Of course, there's a lot more going on with lots of agricultural areas, various farm animal competitions and displays with sheep-shearing demos and the like.  There are lots of food stands with food to eat as well as plenty to take home such as local cheeses, meats, booze and sweet treats. We bought some Sussex Charmer to take home which is a mix of mature cheddar and Parmesan so has a lovely deep, tangy flavour and is almost gone already!

Despite the rather dingy weather with a few downpours, we had a brilliant day out!

Acrylic Pouring with CriSam

There's a lovely new local business I recently had the joy of experiencing - CriSam Acrylic Pouring.  Founded by Chris and Sam (hence the name), these ladies have a real passion for teaching this fun way of creating art as well as making some awesome pieces themselves.

I took part in a taster session as part of the Uckfield WI craft group of which Chris is a member, her and Sam offered it to us at a great price as we were their guinea pigs prior to them starting to offer courses.  I think it's a great idea and they're both excellent at teaching, you can really feel their passion!

Buxted Fun Day & Oast Farm Cafe

Sunday roast at The White Hart - review

We've been to The White Hart in Buxted a few times yet I've never written a proper review about it.  In all honesty, I've had mixed experiences but the last time we went for a roast, it was amazing!

The White Hart recently won Best Place To Eat in the Uckfield Business Awards and I know it is a popular local place.  They have such a nice menu with interesting dishes for varied tastes, it can be expensive but I know their meat especially is top quality, the steaks are certainly worth the extra plus the staff are so friendly, it's a nice place to be and hang out.  The building is fantastic with a proper, traditional bar with real fire at the front with cosy sofas and solid wood tables and chairs.  The conservatory out the back is more modern and tastefully decorated, light and spacious, it would be ideal for a private party.

We went for Sunday roasts with Nik having the beef and I chose the pork belly.  The kids had chicken and chips this time.

The sides were lovely, well cooked veg and amazing cauliflower cheese.  Nik was very impressed with his beef and the Yorkshires were lovely and HUGE!  The roast potatoes were good too.

My pork was SO good!  It came with perfect crackling and was a really good chunk of meat, not fatty like pork belly can be, it was tasty, moist and tender, I loved it.



Overall, we had a brilliant experience.

They have a lovely, enclosed beer garden with picnic tables, a grassy area and patio.  It's sheltered but gets the sun all day.  It's ideal for families or people with dogs to enjoy in the summer.

They have a good range of wine and cocktails and will mix anything you like.  It's a fun pub for a girls' night with nibbles and drinks for an evening off mum duty.  Oh and my Dad loves the Harvey's on tap of course.

I've also found some of my old photos from our evening enjoying their steak night way back in August 2016 when we had an amazing meal there.  We sat in the conservatory where it was quiet and out of the way, we had a lovely evening and you can see the twins loved it (aged 21 months).

Itty bitty Kalyan doing cheers in 2016!

We were invited for our latest Sunday roast in return for this review.  All opinions are my own honest thoughts.