Ploughing event in Northumberland hailed a success

Among those praised was D Harvey & Son, who loaned the land (almost 300 acres in 14 different fields) at Mindrum Mill for the competitions. With the two previous championships ending in a good few inches of mud, the same fear came to mind earlier in the week when torrential rain stopped all organisation on the site for a day.

However, it dried well and everything then went to plan – and with mostly good weather over the event weekend, it had made the hard land a little better to plough for the competitors.

The plots of the winners of the five Plough-Off finals, the High Cut tractor champion and the Horse Ploughing champion are then judged to find the Supreme Champion and this award was given to Ashley Boyles from Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

Host farmer Ian Harvey was the first President of the Society of Ploughmen to actually take part as a competitor in the championships. He was competing in the Vintage Trailing class and the Vintage Trailing Plough-Off final on the second day, for which he placed seventh.

Sue Frith, chief executive of the Society of Ploughmen (organisers of the championships) said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Harvey family for providing a site in such a picturesque part of the country. There was a wonderful atmosphere over the two days.”