Record numbers visit Oak Fair 2008

Another successful Oak Fair took place on The Stock Gaylard Estate over the August Bank Holiday weekend, with new attractions including the Re-birth of a Dorset Oak Tree and the Dyne Drewett Horse Logging Competition.

Held on Saturday 23rd August 2008, the fourth annual Oak Fair provided a family event designed to celebrate woodland, timber, conservation and the countryside. Over 120 exhibitors made the event the biggest yet, with many providing woodcraft demonstrations and interactive and educational stands.

Younger visitors were also treated to a large children’s area with straw maze, scarecrow competition, circus skill, music and art workshops and a tractor ride around the estate Deer Park.

The Re-birth of the Dorset Oak saw a dead oak tree felled by Adam’s Axemen on the edge of the Church Park. All parts of the tree were then distributed around the show to a number of the exhibitors who used the timber for furniture crafts etc.  Next year, these products will be displayed in a unique exhibition, at the 2009 Oak Fair.

The Dyne Drewett Horse Logging Competition featured heavy horses from Herefordshire, Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset competing in a series of tests and courses to demonstrate their manoeuvring techniques.

The horse loggers ran two competitions during the day, with competitors competing in singles; and pairs.  The singles were won by John Bunce from Devon with Drum, his seven-year-old strawberry roan Clydesdale gelding.  They were also joint winners of the pairs competition, alongside Richard Branscombe from Wiltshire with his black Percheron gelding.

Following its launch in 2005 the Oak Fair has attracted widespread interest across Dorset, attracting traditional and artisans, conservation bodies, woodland management specialists, countryside advisors and machinery specialists.

For more information about the event and The Stock Gaylard Estate, please visit www.stockgaylard.com

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