Priddy is a little village in the Mendip Hills of Somerset. For most of the year it is, no doubt, a sleepy little place. There’s a green and a pleasant pub to keep folks happy. But for a short while each year it turns into a thronging rural centre. That’s when Priddy Fair takes place. That’s usually in August and the fair is held most years. It wasn’t held in 2014 and there are fears for its future.
However, I’m going back to the early 1980s and a family trip which passed through Priddy whilst the fair was on.
The road we drove in on had wide verges and all along these were traders with agricultural and other products to sell. It was fascinating stuff.
The green in the heart of the village was also the heart of the fair. The sheep hurdles, which spend most of the year piled up in a little shelter on the green were out and filled with sheep for sale. I was keen to get photos and it seemed to me that the best way was to take to the skies. This actually meant going to the funfair, on one edge of the green and taking a ride on the big wheel.
So up I went.
This is looking down almost vertically, where wife, in the maroon red clothing was watching. But it wasn’t really the fun fair which interested me – let’s get up a bit higher.
Here we look down on the sheep fair.
It’s clearly heaving with sheep.
Priddy was altogether a busy place.
Let’s get down amongst the punters.
Great atmosphere. Let’s hope it survives.
Locksands Life 