Preparations under way for Royal Cornwall Show

Preparations are under way for one of the biggest events in Cornwall's calendar - the Royal Cornwall Show.

The annual agricultural show will be held at the Royal Cornwall Events Centre in Wadebridge on 5, 6, and 7 June.

Thousands of people attend the event annually with more than 117,000 people ing through the gates last year.

Mark Stoddart is at the helm of the show for the first time this year after previous secretary Chris Riddle stepped down as secretary after 35 years.

Prior to becoming the secretary and CEO of the Royal Cornwall Show, Mr Stoddart was the society manager at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for more than 18 years.

He said the showground "looks absolutely amazing" in the sunshine.

"It's all going very, very well, we've obviously been blessed with wonderful weather that's enabled us to get ahead of the game," he said.

He added: "All the marquees are going up now, they look absolutely brilliant, and...everything's going very, very well at this stage."

The show secretary said there would be a wide variety of cattle and other animals on display at the event, despite issues including avian influenza.

"Cattle slightly down, but mainly because there's a bit of uncertainty with blue tongue and other aspects like that, but will still be a very good display.

"The horses as normal, and all the other sections, the pigeons and the rabbits and goats up to normal, and pigs is very very good this year.

"Obviously because of the bird flu we can't have poultry this year, but we are having an egg show - we have amazing entries for that, so yes, everything is looking really good."

Mr Stoddart said he had "an amazing team" to help him with his first Royal Cornwall Show.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].