The first day of Badminton dawned dry and bright, although as it's the first time we've slept off-site for a few years we missed the 8am ‘curfew' for getting the van behind the stand and so had to carry the last few bits and pieces we needed - note to self - get up earlier tomorrow!

Our Badminton 2010 stand with its smart new Hilton Herbs flag!

We had told Clare, whose first show it was - after only a month with Hilton Herbs - that the first day would be peaceful and allow her to get to grips with the layout of the stand, the pricing, etc. In the event she got thrown in at the deep end as we were very busy throughout the day and we are sure that the fact that it was cross-country day for the Grassroots Championship was a big factor. Our colleague, Janice, who is also Hilton Herbs' accountant, drove up to join us for the rest of the show and we were so pleased at how well we'd done that we decided to sample the culinary delights of Tetbury that evening and we had dinner at the Blue Zucchini restaurant and had a very pleasant meal.

Day two brought some respite from the rush and the morning was very quiet but we made up for it during the lunch interval and in the afternoon, especially once the dressage had finished. All the visitors to the stand were thrilled with our 25% show discount and free shipping and many existing customers (and some new ones!) made the most of the opportunity and stocked up on their supplements. At the end of the day we did our short ‘commute' back to Tetbury but decided not to squander the day's takings on another meal so we settled for pizza and salad in the cottage.

Day three, being cross country day, was pretty busy and the weather was kind. It had rained hard the evening and night before but it dried out in time for the start of the cross country, although it was damp and made it feel colder than it actually was. We didn't close up until gone 7.30 and it was a bit of a rush to get back to Tetbury and into our glad rags for our meal out. It's an old Hilton Herbs' tradition - we always eat out on the cross-country day at Badminton! We went to the Priory Inn, where we had a lovely meal two years ago, and we weren't disappointed this time either!

Monday was another reasonably busy day, although the morning was quiet. The highlight of Clare's first show with Hilton Herbs was serving HRH Princess Anne, who came on the stand in the afternoon and bought some of our salt licks and a herb mix for one of her dogs. This isn't the first time she's been on our stand and we know she uses our products, sourcing them through one of our retailers, but it was nice to see her in person again. We're only worried about we do as an ‘encore' at Clare's next show!

Breakdown under way!

It all comes down more more quickly than it goes up!

With the end of the show comes the stand breakdown which is always hard work, especially after a four day show, however one of our colleagues very gallantly gave us his bank holiday to come and up to help us breakdown (thanks, Stacy!). With four of us breakdown went quickly and smoothly and we were off and heading for home by 8pm. Another Badminton over for another year!