“It’s a break, not an ending. We'll be back soon”
The big news
The Highclere Show is definitely taking a breather this year. We’re all gutted, but that’s life.
If you’ve never been, here’s 3 of our highlights from the normally annual show:
- History: Highclere has been a staple for the country sports crowd for nearly 30 years.
- Setting: You can’t beat the sporting backdrops. It makes a 10/25 feel like a win.
- People: This is where we see many of the faces we know from the big shoots.
While the reasons for the break are a bit thin on the ground right now, the fact remains that our annual stomping ground at the “real” Downton Abbey won’t be hosting the big one for a while. It’s a massive shame because there’s nothing quite like pulling up to those grounds , rolling down the iconic driveway with the kit in the back and seeing that iconic ‘abbey‘ standing proud near the the stands. The connection to Downton always brings a certain vibe to the day.
The grounds are beautiful, the displays are awesome, the exhibitors are great and the mini-sporting comp is always a testy treat. There’s also have-a-go clay stands to get newbies into the sport.
And don’t even remind us about the Highclere food that we’ll be skipping this year…
But the social side is what we’re going to miss most during this break. Highclere has always been about the “between” moments. It’s the banter in the queue. It’s the shared look of “how on earth did we both miss that?” when a slow clay floats past like a Californian frisbee. We go for the shooting but we stay for the laughs and the inevitable shoot post-mortem where we blame the sun, the cartridges or a passing butterfly for our scores.
What else is on?
We know people will be searching for Highclere tickets soon, only to find the gates are closed for this year’s show. It’s a blow for the calendar, but at PAIR DEAD we don’t leave you hanging like a final episode of Downton – check out these alternatives that we can personally vouch for:
The Northern Country Sports Show
Keep your eyes peeled for the PAIR DEAD squad at these events. We’d love to see you there.
