THOUSANDS of people young and old flocked to this year's Romsey Show as town and country met.

The annual event, which included a wide range of events for all the family to enjoy, took place on Saturday at the Broadlands Estate and proved to be as popular as ever.

Despite early morning showers, visitors spirits were not dampened and about 26,000 people descended from all over the county for the 159th show.

It was the second year the show had been held at the venue and a number of changes had to be put in place to accommodate regulations to restrict the spread of foot-and-mouth, but the event proved a huge hit with both children and adults.

Guests were entertained with a variety of events, including numerous horse and dog displays and a falconry show.

Other attractions at the event, which was founded in 1842 to celebrate everything rural, included a variety of country craft displays and floral exhibitions.

Show chairman John Whitham said the event was hugely successful this year, despite there being no cattle due to foot-and-mouth restrictions.

He added: "There was no cattle, but we certainly made up for it. What seemed to be very popular was the fur and feathers - that was rabbits and poultry really, and they had their own show.

"We provided quite a large marquee and next year they want it bigger. We also provided a countryside ring where we showed various countryside pursuits, which, again, proved very popular. That was falconry, dog handling, birds of prey and fly casting."

Show secretary Annie Richards said the event evolves more every year.

She said: "We are developing and evolving. Because we had to alter things we were able to have an informal dog show and that was something else that went down very well.

"On the driving side we had the qualifiers for the Horse of the Year Show. There's so much constant evolution and development."

Mr Whitham added feedback from visitors had been very complimentary.

He said: "It was enjoyable after the horrible wet start. We were not very happy first thing with the rain, but the feeling was that it was a lovely day and the show was great.People were very complimentary."

Highlights of the day included the heavy horse musical drive, the parade of hounds, the Medina Marching Band and a display of pure-bred Arab horses. Visitors also enjoyed a dog show, dressage displays, a polo display and a dog clinic.