A huge thank you to all who entered this year's show. Thanks to you it will be back next year! The number of people taking part doubled to 45 and entries in the categories almost doubled- absolutely what we needed to keep the show going!

We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did and realised that it is a fun event and not all about the competition.

On the horticultural side of things it was as expected - because of the dreadful weather leading up to the show some classes such as tomatoes, beans and peas had only a very small number of entries and some none at all. On the other hand it is obviously a good year for courgettes, redcurrants and rhubarb!

Special congratulations to Chris Hosea, a first time entrant, who won the Winyard Cup for fruit and vegetables.

The flowers, plants and foliage categories looked amazing with such variety and colour and beautiful displays.

In the culinary categories we were delighted by the increase in numbers across the board, but especially jams, jellies, chutneys and relishes. Possibly the most popular class this year was one new to the show, the home made liqueur category. We had 10 entrants and the judge, Judy Georgi, enjoyed sampling every one!

We asked for any constructive feed back she could give us and she kindly emailed us a few days later. Her first point was to say the Hall  "gave an excellent overall impression, this is what impresses the judges when they walk in, everything looked fresh and inviting".  

So thank you to all entrants, that was entirely down to you!

The other points she made were:

  • "Good scones...no need to grate cheese on top"
  • "Good shortbread all made with salted butter, essential for flavour"
  • "Sausage rolls.... no need to be bigger than 7x5cm"
  • "All the jams, jellies and chutneys were very good but please tell entrants to ensure the outside of the jars are not sticky"
  • "Excellent liqueurs, I might have to bring my husband to drive me home next time after tasting so many!"

She added that she hoped she didn't sound "hyper critical" and that her comments were made to "....help future entrants. The standard of cooking is very high and always impressive, so well done".

We had a few entries in the jams, chutneys and jellies where the jars seemed smaller than 12oz and the lids were not plain. Mrs Georgi took neither into account and has checked and can find no restrictions on the size of jars in the present day rules other than in the jellies which should be 1/2lb in size. She points out that "small jars are unusual....but if the quality of the filling is good that is what really matters" She does reiterate that jars must be clean and lids new and not written on. All these points are very helpful to us and mean we can simplify the restrictions on the schedule next year.

The only area we are struggling to find entries for are the junior classes.   It is only in the last couple of years that numbers have dropped. The schools breaking up for the summer holidays later than they used to might be a factor and that children lead much busier lives.We have tried to 'modernise' the categories by including digital art in the 'draw a poster' class but if anyone of you or your children has any other ideas on how to boost numbers in these categories we would welcome them. The entries we did get were fantastic!

In the near future we intend to set up an Instagram page to add one more way of keeping you posted about horticultural and culinary goings on.

Thank you all again and see you next year when we hope the word will have spread and the numbers will double again!

Date for your Diary:

The Walberswick Horticultural and Culinary Show 

Saturday July 19th 2025

at the village hall

See you there!