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Badminton 'for shopping' as well as horses

Niki Hinman
BBC News, West of England
Reporting fromBadminton Horse Trials
BBC A brass sculpture of a polo player on a running horse sits next to Jan, who is in her 80s, in her studio at home in Stawell. BBC
Somerset sculptor Jan Sweeney in her studio in Stawell preparing her sculptures to show at Badminton Horse Trials

A local artist says many of the 200,000 or so visitors to the Badminton Horse Trials go to shop.

There are dozens of marquees and more than 500 exhibitors selling everything from clothes, to horse equipment, to jewellery at the event.

Local companies from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Bristol and Somerset have been selling to racegoers.

One of them is sculptor Jan Sweeney who has been exhibiting at Badminton for 30 years.

This is a close up image of Jan's hands as she uses a grinding tool to polish a horse sculpture.
Jan Sweeney puts the finishing touches to her sculptures for Badminton

She creates brass and resin wildlife sculptures in a studio at her home in Stawell near Street in Somerset.

Her artistic journey began, aged 14, when she had to leave school because she was dyslexic and spent her time making things in the shed.

"They said I was un-educatable, so I ended up going to London and found my way as a china restorer for about 20 years.

"Then my son left home, the cat died, the dog died and my horse Fred died, so I went to Africa and learned how to sculpt.

"I canoed down the Zambezi and it was amazing, there were elephants, everything. It inspired me to make wildlife sculptures, so that is what I did."

Jan is an elderly lady, and she sits in her overalls in her studio grinding and polishing a sculpture of a galloping horse
Jan Sweeney puts the finishing touches to one of her sculptures before loading up the lorry and heading to Badminton

"I couldn't do anything else. I enjoy making things, but then forget to sell anything. I'm rubbish at that," she says.

"Badminton hasn't really changed that much over the years. It is an enormous event.

"It's a shopping venue as well as a horse thing, and there are a lot of things here you couldn't find anywhere else.

"I'm lucky , in that there is a big screen just around the corner from my stall, so I hope to catch some of the cross country", she added.

Badminton Horse Trials Crowds sit and drink and chat in front of a white picket fence at an open air bar with a white marquee in the sunshine Badminton Horse Trials
The Outside Chance bar sees a fair bit of action over the event which also has dozens of food stalls

There are also more than 100 street food vendors serving dishes from around the world on the site.

Ed Wickenden from Gloucestershire-based Born Sloppy has been running his business for seven years in between working as a builder.

He said: "We love Badminton... There's all different walks of life here. I love it. We are out in the fields and it gives us a break from it all!"

Spectators take a break from the action to do a spot of shopping. Ladies wearing summer hats and dresses eye up some clothes on a stand by London based Cuyler and Davy.
There are about 300 trade stands at Badminton
badminton horse trials Cheltenham based Beatrice Von Trecksow's stand at Badminton shows two of the stand ladies in colourful jackets which they sellbadminton horse trials
Cheltenham based Beatrice Von Trecksow's stand at Badminton

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