A sunny warm start to Wednesday but with heavy showers promised for the afternoon we made an early start and by 9.30 we were walking down from Lady Manners School to the Bakewell Showground.  Knowing the traffic could be bad (although in recent years the organisers seemed to have got the park and ride sorted to ease the problem) we could see the car parks were already busy.  The Granby Road car park in Bakewell was being used for coach drop offs. This is the first time for a few years we have both been and the dogs came too.  We had a wander around the stalls (plenty of pet stalls and a free sample of dog food pleased Smudge) before arriving at the dog show just in time to see one of our guests compete in one of the classes.  Had a look around the produce tent and WI tent and of course the craft and food tents.  Had a bite to eat from one of the food stalls (as well as a cider) and then went to look at the livestock section.  Blue naturally didn’t want to visit the cows!  Having felt we had seen everything we walked into town and were surprised to see how busy it was, probably many were  having a break from the Show (pass outs were available).  We had a coffee before walking back up the hill to the car where we found we were close to the coach park.  With no sign of the heavy showers we decided to have an early BBQ at our Bakewell cottages, the first this year!  We had finished and were just enjoying the balmy evening when we heard the first rumble of thunder.  There was still not a black cloud in sight until I walked into the garden and realised they were behind us!  The heavens just opened but we were back inside in seconds.  The rain lasted about an hour and Chris donned my raincoat to make sure the gutters were OK.  After the rain stopped we went outside and realised Andrew and family were bringing a few more cows across the road so we invited them in for a cup of tea and a chat about the Show.