Phew what a scorcher!
The 50th CLA Game Fair, at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, is being hailed as a huge success, with record-breaking attendance figures and recession-busting results for traders.
The CLA say that 151, 000 visitors attended over the 3 days - an increase of 13,000 over the previous record of 138,000.
Sporting Shooter's stand on Gunmakers Row was packed with visitors throughout the three days of the fair, chatting to contributors including classic guns expert Diggory Hadoke, our gun editor Michael Yardley, gundog editor Nick Ridley, foxshooter Robert Bucknell and vet Vicky Payne.
For some the experience was marred by traffic problems, with visitors vying to top each others' tales of queues running into several hours. The CLA official line is: "The traffic problems on Friday were triggered by a road accident on the major route which in turn caused congestion. With almost 10,000 more visitors on Saturday than Friday, traffic flowed well, “proving” said Game Fair’s Director David Hough, “that the sophisticated £100,000 traffic management system put in place for the event really does work effectively”.
Have your say about this year's CLA Game Fair here »
Read editor James Marchington's blog of the event here »
Read sub-editor Harriet Salisbury's impressions of the event here »
Mark Gilchrist cooks pan-fried pigeon with spinach
WHAT'S NEW
- Our Shoot now has its own blog – here »
- Sporting Shooter's 13 top tips on buying a gun – here »
- Andy Richardson has a new blog about his quest for self-sufficiency – here »
- Check out our classified ads - and post your own - here »
- New game cookery section here »
- Wildfowler Alan Jarrett now has his own blog here »
