SMALLHOLDERS and country enthusiasts from all over Britain will head for Builth Wells on May 17th and 18th for the annual Royal Welsh Smallholder and Garden Festival.

Pembrokeshire Farmer's sister publication Smallholder magazine started the show in the 1990s but it grew quickly and eventually moved to the Royal Welsh showground. Smallholder magazine handed over the reins for the show to the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society in 2001.

For 2008, all the much-loved events will be staged, including smallholding stalls and information centres, a pig display, pygmy, dairy and fibre goat shows, alpacas, cattle and a sheep show.

The farmers' market in Wales has more stalls, and there will be bee keeping and vintage machinery displays and an open dog show.

There will be an auction of vintage tractors, implements, literature and other collectibles on the Saturday.

There is a programme of free talks and a property roadshow featuring numerous examples of smallholdings for sale.

There is also an auction of general smallholding equipment.

Meanwhile, Smallholder magazine is sponsoring the invention competition, which this year has two categories for complex and simple inventions.

New this year is the Smallholder pentathlon competition of five typical smallholder tasks devised by the judges.

The garden festival has prize-winning floral arrangements, garden tradestands and, on the Sunday, a gardening question time with well-known television presenters.

An extensive woodland area covers growing, maintaining and using forestry and craft demonstrations such as wood turning will also be featured.

New events for 2008 include the celtic dance festival, with groups offering workshops and displays from the UK, Ireland and France. Also, the green horizons festival has been developed to offer practical advice on sustainable living.

There are also attractions in the main ring and many tradestands.

To subscribe to Smallholder magazine go to www.smallholder.co.uk/subscribe or ring 01823 365203.

Visit www.rwas.co.uk or call 08445 450532 for further festival information and tickets.

3:29pm Friday 9th May 2008

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