Paws in the Park at South of England Showground, Ardingly

Organisers of top public dog event, Paws in the Park, already a huge hit in Kent, chose the Showground in Ardingly for its first Sussex event for its big open spaces and versatility; and following the success of Your Horse Live at Stoneleigh Park in the Midlands, the first South East Total Confidence Live, for amateur horse enthusiasts, will be at Ardingly on 26th and 27th April.

New CEO of the South of England Agricultural Society, Iain Nicol, is delighted that innovations and improvements at the Showground are already bringing in new business.

He said: “We are hugely excited that the Showground will be hosting the launch of these two large scale events and with quick and easy access from Gatwick Airport, two mainline train stations and just a few minutes off the A23 we know they will appeal to both dog and horse lovers from across the region.”

Said, Emma Bedford, Associate Publisher from Bauer Media, organisers of Total Confidence Live: “When we started looking for the right venue to launch Total Confidence Live we needed somewhere that could cope with large numbers of people and horses with enough space to host live demonstrations both indoors and outside, a horse care village, expert clinics and hundreds of shopping trade stands. We also needed accommodation and stabling, all of which the Showground was able to offer.”

As a precursor to the launch of Paws in the Park at the Showground on the 17th and 18th May, event organisers MDS Shows will be giving visitors a taster by bringing their ‘K9 Aqua Zone’ feature to the Spring Garden & Leisure Show on 4th and 5th May where visitor’s dogs can compete in a fun race against time.

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The Showground has also seen an increase in bookings for conferences and business events in the Norfolk Pavilion for 2014 and with new in-house caterers, The Garden Chef, delivering top quality, delicious food the Society hopes to win even more business.

Said Mr Nicol: “We have received some incredibly positive feedback about our new catering team, who are amazing at producing what the client wants every time, rather than telling them what they can have, a mantra that absolutely reflects the flexibility and uniqueness of the showground and my team.”

The Society’s own show season starts with the Spring Garden & Leisure Show on 4th & 5th May and is shortly followed by their flagship event, the South of England Show on 5th, 6th & 7th June, which attracted nearly 70,000 people last year.

For more information on the Showground and Facilities and all the events for 2014 please visit www.southofenglandshowground.co.uk or call the events team on 01444 892048.