by Gareth Wild

Created on: August 28, 2008

Britain has many steam fairs and the most famous is the Great Dorset Steam Fair which is an annual event.
2008 sees the 40th Anniversary of the Great Dorset Steam Fair. This is the worlds largest of its type. It happens every year at the end of August - beginning of September. The weather is usually quite hot but you should always go prepared for the worst.
It was started by Michael Oliver and his friends from the Dorset Steam and Historical Vehicle Club. The original site was a 400 acre field near Stourpaine Village in Dorset.

It is now based at Tarrant Hinton in Dorset near Blandford Forum. This is a 600 acre site so as you can imagine you cant get round the whole show in one day, luckily it takes place over several days. It attracts over 200,000 people each year.
It features traction engines, road rollers, heavy horse displays.
There are several large show rings which at designated periods throughout the day have different shows in them. Such shows are a display of heavy haulage both steam and diesel powered vehicles.
The showground is sub divided up into different areas, forestry, animals, fairground.
The fairground has alot of vintage rides which are powered by showmans engines and these look especially good at night when the whole fair is lit up.

The dates of the 2008 show are Wednesday 27th to Sunday 31st August 2008. You will need most of these days to get round everything.
You can pre book your tickets for the show which presently are
12.50 adults
11.00 senior citizens
6.00 children
34.00 family

On the day prces are
15.00 adults
13.00 senior citizens
7.00 children
40.00 family
The above prices are all per day
There are also evening tickets available mainly to use the steam fair and are priced as follows ( from 5pm)
7.00 for both adults and senior citizens where children now go free.

There is a 170 acre campsite available but you have to pre book to use it at 13 night per unit with any additional vehicles charged at 10 per day. This is payable in advance. This campsite will hold 5000 units and at the height of the show you can expect between 15 to 20,000 show visitors camping on the site.
For this year there is a pay on the day campsite which charges 15 per night per unit/tent.
The attractions you can expect to see at the show are

Heavy Haulage Road Locomotives
Showmans Engines and Old Time Fun Fair
Fairground Organs
Steam Lorries
Steam Road Rollers
Ploughing Engines
Threshing
Stationary Engines
Wood Sawing
Timber Loading and Sawing and Hauling By Steam
Veteran, Vintage and Classic Cars, Caravans and Motorcycles
Commercial Vehicles
Military Vehicles
Steam Tractors and Working Vintage Tractors, Static Tractors
Tractor Pulling
Heavy Horses and the Sheep Show
How Twer Done In Granfers Day
Craft and Model Tents
Beer tent and food hall.
There is also entertainment on such as dancing shows and this year there are alot of tribute bands playing.
The latest line up can be seen on the website of the show which is

www.gdsf.co.uk
Altogether a show for all the family, with plenty of photogenic opportunities dont forget to take your camera and plenty of film. There are plenty of stalls serving local produce such as beer, cider and food.

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