Exploring the 2023 Royal Highland Show
Scotland’s biggest outdoor event is back this month for its 201st year and will run from Thursday June 22 until Sunday June 25 at The Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston in Edinburgh.
The first incarnation of the show took place 1822 on a site that is now home to the Scottish Parliament. Today, it is Scotland’s biggest outdoor event attracting around 190,000 people and regarded as one of Europe’s largest agribusiness shows. It contributed almost £39.5million to the economy in 2022.
Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the weekend is the food hall, now known as Scotland’s Larder. This is where visitors can sample produce - from jams to cheese, fudge and seafood - as well as speak directly to the producers.
In our latest partner episode of Scran, The Scotsman’s food and drink podcast, Louise Elder, Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland Director explained the history and importance of the food hall, saying: “The food hall started because of Hilary Cochran from East Lothian, who was a farmer with a farm shop.
“She was astounded that, in the 1980s, although we were celebrating everything about our industry, we were not celebrating our producers. In those days, our show was peripatetic, which means it moved around the regions of Scotland.
“As part of the president’s initiative, Hilary said ‘why don’t we celebrate the Lothian producers, because I know many of them through my farm shop?’ So that’s how the food hall started, and HiIlary went on to replicate that in all the other regions and it has grown since then.”
This year’s Scotland’s Larder will be celebrating everything from the Perth region, so visitors corgan expect excellent soft fruit, afternoon teas and oatcakes among a whole host of other things.
Jill Brown, from Moray Distillery who has been exhibiting for years, told us of her experience with the Royal Highland Show, and gave some advice to anyone thinking of taking the plunge and exhibiting their produce.
She said: “I've probably got about 20 years of attendance under my belt at the Royal Highland Show with about 10 years as an exhibitor.
“When I started my business, I initially attended a couple of days with another stand. That gave me a feel for the size and the scale of the food and drink hall (Scotland’s Larder) within the show itself. I had a lot of background knowledge before I put the business into the food hall.
“It’s a fantastic showcase to launch new products and businesses but also to meet your customers. We don't go to another event that has four consecutive days of consistent footfall.
“At this event there's some exhibitors that we will only see once a year and we'll only see these customers once a year so that allows us to make that connection again and build that relationship.”
Louise added: “I became a director in 2017, you represent your area so I represent East Lothian. At the time I was a food producer - I produced rapeseed oil. What I learned was that, as a very small producer, it was really important to collaborate.
“Through our local council, which is East Lothian Council, we developed a food group called East Lothian food and drink. And we have now 42 collaborations there, and then we would exhibit at the Royal Highland Show. It was for people who going to the Royal Highland Show could be a little bit daunting as it is huge. It's a four day show - there are approximately 50,000 visitors a day and you have to be prepared for that.”
Louise offers this advice for those visiting this year: “It’s very easy to get tickets, just visit Royalhighlandshow.org and you can choose multiple days as well as transport. I would advise you to get organised because it is so popular. Remember it's a very long day so wear really good shoes, and just come and meet everybody.”
Louise also explained a new development for this year, the Royal Highland Show app. She said: “you can find Scotland’s Larder on the map (as well as the food for thought theatre, showjumping etc), and you can search for your favourite producer there too. If you download the app, you can also buy tickets through it too.”
To buy tickets and find out more visit the Royal Highland Show website.
This Scran episode was produced as part of a paid partnership with the Royal Highland Show.