Wolfman visits Dorchester

DANCING Diggers and a man who lives with wolves are among the sensational attractions at this year’s Dorset County Show on September 4-5.

Now in its 169th year, the Show in Dorchester has lined up a series of memorable experiences to go alongside the traditional spectacles of rural life and a tempting range of displays and trade stands.

Last year’s show saw a record 55,000 visitors, 6,000 animals and 400 stands.

This year’s crowd-pleasers include the Diggerland JCB Stunt Team, known as the Dancing Diggers. Giant JCBs do daring stunts, dance in formation and make people laugh.

Show secretary Sam Mackenzie-Green said: ‘Lots of people have said we must have them. The way they all move together, you can’t take your eyes off them.

‘It’s like having a set of performing dinosaurs.

‘Children particularly enjoy seeing them.’

More showmanship will come from Wolfman Shaun Ellis, an ex-Commando who lives with a pack of wolves in North Devon. Mr Ellis has starred in several British and American TV programmes, and he recently appeared in a series with one of Dorset’s most famous residents, Martin Clunes, to explain to him how dogs live in packs.

Sam said: ‘The Wolfman has raised three wolf cubs. He was their pack leader. He taught them how to eat meat. He taught them how to howl. He taught them how to behave in the wild.

‘He’s got something about him, he’s a character.’

Also stalking round by popular demand will be Titan the Robot, the giant 55-stone android who thrilled showgoers last year and has since grooved on stage in Europe and America with US singing star Rihanna.

Sam said: ‘I heard from a couple of teachers last year that all the children were talking about when they went back to school was Titan the Robot. He was enormously popular.

‘I remember standing next to our home crafts chairman when Titan appeared and she was gobsmacked. She’d never seen anything like it.’

Other attractions this year include the Exeter X Factors Flyball relay-racing dogs, exciting mounted games at breakneck speed on ponies, and a new small farmers’ market, with local food producers who have not traded at the Dorset County Show before.

Brewery Square Dorchester

Brewery Square is so named as it is located on the site of the old Eldridge Pope Brewery which closed down in recent years and the site was sold in 2002. Now the site is being developed by Waterhouse and marketed by Savills.

One of the unique features of Brewery Square is the water supply, water for the development is being drawn up from the old brewery’s own aquifer providing natural spring water just as it has done since 1880.

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