Award-winning family farmers get ready for the Devon County Show

The countdown has begun for the start of the Devon County Show, which runs this year from 16 to 18 May. Organic family farmers from Talaton near Honiton are sure to be cooking up a storm.

Jonathan and Louise Burrough from Peradon Farm specialise in gourmet burgers, made from their home-grown Aberdeen Angus beef as well as lamb.

The award-winning steak burgers will be ready to eat from their catering stand near the Mole Valley Farmers Main Arena.

The 310-acre farm has been in the Burrough family for several generations and has been organic for more than a decade.

In recent years they have enjoyed well-earned success for their speciality burgers made using their own top quality meat.

They scooped a national Great Taste Award, often described as the Oscars of the food industry, as well as two Taste of the West awards.

Louise said: "We use our own grass-fed beef and lamb which makes the taste fantastic and is really beneficial for health.

“We aim to give people the very best burger that we can – every element is fully traceable and the different elements are combined to make it as delicious as possible.”

To complement the high quality meat, the burgers are served in a choice of freshly baked breads and topped off with a bespoke salad mix of herbs and leaves grown by award-winning Maddocks Farm Organics nearby.

In Devon grazing cattle and sheep are the mainstay of the county’s agriculture.  At the last count there were more than 500,000 dairy and beef cattle - more than in any other English county - and 1.4 million sheep, grazing between them over a million acres of grassland, including 800,000 acres of permanent pasture.

Also, the couple is involved in a new scientific project run by Devon Trading Standards to create a unique" fingerprint capable of tracing animals right back to the farm.

Jonathan said they were delighted to be part of the cutting-edge project: “We strongly believe in people's right to know exactly where their food comes from. This will ensure local meat is just that - local - and any meat being sold as local when it is not will be exposed as such.”

The Devon County Show is well known for its fabulous food - both to eat at the showground and to take away.

Show Secretary Ollie Allen said: “This element of the Show gets bigger and more popular every year. The Pavilion offers the most fantastic way to “taste and try before you buy” and because there is such a great selection of local producers all in the one place it really does make it a real pleasure to shop local.”

Visitors can shop for a meal or stock up the larder with the huge range of delicious goods on offer and enjoy a great snack or meal washed down with local beer, cider or fruit juice.

Food and drink is part of the great celebration of the Devon countryside which also includes magnificent livestock, inspiring flower and garden displays, marvellous crafts, a huge country life area, lots of traditional entertainmentand avenues of trade stands offering a wealth of goods.

The Diggerland JCB Stunt Team will be strutting their stuff in the Mole Valley Farmers Main Arena performing amazing routines, including ‘hand stands’.

Alongside the woodland area Savage Skills – the UK's leading mountain bike and BMX extreme freestyle display team - will be demonstrating their stunts and giving advice to budding cyclists.

It will be a case of little and large in the cattle classes as the Show hosts the national shows of Britain’s largest native breed, the South Devons, and its smallest, the Dexters who will be lining up alongside the rest of the native and continental cattle breeds hoping to win a coveted rosette.

Advance tickets offering savings are on sale now from the showground, tourist information centres and online. New this year are downloadable online tickets and an online cut off time of midnight on Wednesday, May 15.

Once again up to three children (aged 5 to 15) get free admission on Saturday when accompanied by a paying adult and senior citizens are eligible for the buy-one-get-one-free offer on all three days of the Show as long as they buy their tickets in advance.

Click here to buy tickets to the Show.