A special Summer fixture

These medals hold pride of place in our Boardroom here at Ivy’s Reserve in Wyke Champflower, Somerset. They date back over a century and belonged to Albert Thorne, known as Jim, who was the father of Ivy Clothier, our grandmother and the woman who perfected the recipe for Ivy’s Reserve Cheddar and butter, and started it all.

The Thornes farmed in Lamyatt, just a couple of miles from Wyke Champflower, and stories have been handed down the generations about Tom Clothier’s courting of the fair Ivy, first by pretending to want to borrow a ferret from her brother and later with a gift of local apples. While Tom was just establishing his own farm at the time, Jim Thorne was already a successful dairy farmer, as these medals show.

The medals are for Jim’s Champion dairy cows, awarded at the Mid-Somerset Show in 1904, 1905, 1908 and 1913 (that third medal coming in the year of Ivy’s birth, incidentally). We cherish this display as a reminder of our long family heritage as dairy farmers, and also as a reminder of the great tradition of the agricultural show in the South-West of England. In particular, we have a strong connection with the Mid-Somerset Show, and we’ll be there again this month on Sunday the 16th August. Glastonbury may be the most famous festival in the West, but for all of us at Ivy’s Reserve this day is right up there too.

Like the many other shows in the region, the Mid-Somerset has been a fixture in the farming calendar for many decades. It began 160 years ago, supposedly after a ploughing contest was proposed over drinks in the The Bell Inn in the village of Evercreech. Soon, the ploughing became a cattle show, better suited to the centre of England’s dairy farming, which was when farmers such as Jim Thorne began to exhibit the pick of their herds.

Not long after, the organisers added prizes for cheese and butter. This was at the birth of the dairy industry, when pioneers such as our grandmother Ivy were turning a farming sideline into an important product that would become a national and then international delicacy. Her Vintage Cheddar went on to become a regular winner at the Mid-Somerset Show in what became known as the South West Cheese Awards. As you can imagine, the competition from other producers in the heart of Cheddar country was always healthy.

It’s still a thrill to compete here but for us the show is about pleasure as much as it is business. It’s a highlight of the year for the quiet market town of Shepton Mallet, and the organisers themselves admit that “Someone once said that sleepy Shepton only woke up once a year for the Mid Somerset Show, and then went back to sleep.” There are many other events throughout the summer in these parts, including the North Somerset Show and Royal Bath & West Show, but the Mid-Somerset has a special place for us. We’re proud to be part of a fixture that, despite changing times, is thriving in the 21st Century. In 2024, our Managing Director Rich Clothier was given the honour of acting as President of the show, sealing our century-long family connection. Come and join us this year!
 

For more information about the Mid-Somerset Show on 16 August, visit midsomersetshow.org.uk