The Show Of The Summer

Bringing Scotland's rural life to the central belt, the Royal Highland Show is the ultimate summer day out

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WITH over 200 years of history to its name, the Royal Highland Show is a national treasure. After roving around the country, hosted at different venues, it established its present base at Ingliston. The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland is the charity organising it, comprised of representatives from eight separate regions. After its first show in 1822, it went on the move across each of these areas until the sixties. As it grew closer to the behemoth it is today, it became clear a permanent site was needed.

The Royal Warrant was bestowed upon the show in Inverness in 1948, and then, thanks to the RHASS’S purchase of the Ingliston Estate just outside Edinburgh, it found its forever home in 1960.

It’s a chance for folk in rural industries to get together from all over the country, to showcase livestock, a chance for brands to bring their latest products to a huge audience and, perhaps most importantly these days, a chance to reconnect rural and urban Scotland.

Head of Show David Tennant explains that side of the event: “That's a huge part of the charity’s work – educating people about where their food comes from. There's a real disconnect between the urban community and the source, so it’s never been more important.

“We have roughly a sixty/forty split. Sixty per cent urban audience and forty per cent rural.”