Do you remember the Southampton Show? I remember it as a highlight of the city calendar but like many other town shows, it's now just a memory. The same is true of the county agricultural shows that were once an integral part of the English summer season. The East Of England Show that once attracted 100,000 people has closed after attracting only 10,000 last year. The Royal Show, held in the heart of Archers country and once regarded as the Jewel In The Crown of agricultural shows ended in 2009 after 150 years.

For a couple of years in the early 80s, I did the rounds of a number of shows including all three of these now defunct events, selling my wares. It was just coincidence they all failed. I remember they all had great character and they were a big event in the life of the local community.

Mud is one of my strongest memories. At one horse show, I was driving my van on the one thin strip of concrete in a churned up field. A 4x4 was approaching in the opposite direction. I figured that, even if they were more used to doing the school run, their chances in the mud were better than mine, so I stood my ground. Our two vehicles stared at each other for what seemed like an age. The 4x4 wouldn't budge. Who do they think they are, I wondered, royalty? Following what seemed like an age, the 4x4 'blinked' and roared off the track in a spray of mud. As the car sped by me , I looked across and saw the stern face of Princess Anne.

I guess show jumping and livestock don't have the appeal they did when Britain was more of an agricultural nation and town shows are just too expensive to put on when budgets are tight.

To an extent the old shows have been replaced by other outdoor events that appeal to more modern interests, like the Boomtown music and arts festival coming up near Winchester in just over a week or July's vibrant Southampton Mela Festival celebrating cultural diversity of today's communities.

Not that the old shows have entirely died out. Portsmouth is reviving its Southsea Show next weekend and of course the New Forest Show continues to attract around 100,000 visitors, with as traditional show as you could wish for, including the very popular trade stands.

We'll be trading there in the Western Shopping Pavilion. It will be the first time in thirty years that I've set up a stand at an outdoor show and I'm very much looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with one of the great British traditions, although not the mud.