Enjoy the outdoors at fun-filled family event

With exciting new attractions, Spring Live! celebrates all aspects of the great outdoors and the best of countryside living.

Under 16s enter for free, when accompanied by a paying adult, so friends and families can come together to enjoy and share lots of new experiences with plenty of interactive entertainment, including a new live music stage, an array of animal adventures, outdoor activities and inspiring creative zones.

Kelly Grant, development director of the South of England Agricultural Society, said: “Spring Live! kick starts our 2018 show season and will offer visitors of all ages a fantastic day out, full of fun and something for everyone.

“We are really excited about the ‘live’ elements this year including our new live music stage, sponsored by Sussex Downs College, which will be rolling out an exciting two-day programme featuring a variety of performances from a host of aspiring and award-winning talent.”

The new village green is the perfect pit stop for families to enjoy the fairground and traditional maypole and Sussex dance demos and workshops.

Younger visitors can also enjoy driving the exhilarating mini monster truck course at the show or brave the UK’s only interactive mobile caving system offering probably the most realistic experience available above ground, with over 90ft of tunnelling inside including two levels, sumps, stalagmites and squeezes.

There will also be archery, axe throwing, blacksmithing and much more in the circus skills and creative workshops.

For green-fingered gardening enthusiasts, there will be hundreds of seasonal plants and equipment, including hot tubs, in addition to impressive displays of flowers, live demos and advice from the National Vegetable Society.

Jean Griffin of BBC Sussex, Surrey and Kent returns this year, accompanied by her amazing team of experts, who will be providing lively discussions and top tips on a range of horticultural subjects in the Gardening Theatre.

The hugely popular mini sheep show will return to the show and children can also enjoy daily donkey rides and interact with rabbits, poultry, cattle, pigs and sheep in the friendly animal barn.

They can even see some exotic reptiles this year.

As one of the South East’s leading family events, dogs are also very welcome to the show and families are encouraged to take part in a new fly ball competition as well as the fun dog agility courses.

The annual South of England Alpaca Show will take place in the Animal Barn and visitors can learn more about the British countryside and the important work the South of England Agricultural Society is doing as a charity to support agricultural education in the Countryside Hub.

For food lovers, mouth-watering menus can be enjoyed in the Norfolk Pavilion Café and the enhanced food court and there will be many other tasty treats to take home from the food hall, plus plenty of retail therapy on offer for country crafts and clothing, gifts and DIY, home wares, wellies and handbags.

Admission: Under 16s enter Free (when accompanied by a paying adult £11); senior citizens and students over 16s £9. Open daily from 9am-5pm. Free parking. All dogs welcome.

For advance ticket discounts visit www.seas.org.uk.

For more information visit https://twitter.com/SouthEngShows or https://www.facebook.com/SouthEngShows/