A year ago this weekend, Chris and I were traveling the English countryside and came to one of my favorite places we saw. We spent the day on the grounds of the beautiful Holker Hall in the north of England near Grange-over-Sands for the Holker Garden Festival. We read about it, and thought it sounded like the most British thing we could do: Flowers, show gardens, cheeses, sticky toffee pudding, and the most exciting, The Lamb National!
Adorable sheep in colored sweaters racing around a track and leaping over hurdles while being chased by a sheep dog! The audience favorite was the one nude sheep (gasp!)
Equally adorable English families came out to watch the festivities.
After the lambs finished their race, we watched the world famous Devil's Horsemen Stunt Team!
These amazing acrobats and their acrobatic horses can be seen in Game of Thrones, Braveheart, and a million other movies and TV shows.
Each horse and rider had its own personality, and it was amazing to see the intensely close bond that the horses shared with the riders. The animals were able to fall and play dead or feign a limp (for acting purposes).
The horses pranced in formation, moving deftly with barely any observable direction from the riders.
One of their biggest tricks was a race between two men straddling two horses each!
But the main event really was the people.
Well, the people AND their dogs, of course. So many characters! (We overheard that the little white poodle's name was Pipsy!)
For
more of Evan Turk's travel illustration, check out the link below:
Evan Turk Travel Illustration
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