It was the first time for this grand estate, once a favourite of the royals, to hold this event and its proximity to London proved to be convenient and popular. Friday had a real buzz about the place and the isles were busy. How much money people were actually parting with is always hard to tell and you occasionally hear the classic line ‘oh I can get that much cheaper online', which gets mixed responses! Not many new products being launched this year, rather people catering for the bargain hunters and displaying their sale items trying to shift old stock or odd sizes.
The layout of the show was an improvement on Ragley but it still isn't up to the same standard as Blenheim, for me that is the only place to have the game fair. The weather was fine and dry on Friday but in true British summer time tradition, the rains came and by Sunday afternoon it was a mud bath. It still remains a good day out with plenty of food and drink stalls, shooting clothing, cars, gun dog displays, horse jumping and pretty much anything else countryside related and it's important to mention it's a much needed promotion of fieldsports here in the UK.
A taster of the day captured by Emma Slater.
Neill on July 31, 2017 at 11:22 am
We had a really great time, I have been waiting for The Game Fair to come to Hatfield for nearly 40 years (I live 5 minutes away!) and was not disappointed. Access was very good indeed, though the layout was a bit confusing.
Looking forward to it returning in 2019, and it would be great to see Westley Richards there, keeping the flag flying for the best privately owned gunmaker in the world.