With temperatures nudging 30 degrees on the opening afternoon, it couldn't have been more different than last year's wash out.
On the face of it you would have though it not ideal temperatures for selling AGA cookers, however our stand was never cold! We were particularly proud to be showing the new Dual Control electric AGA.
This AGA has the same characteristics as the traditional heat storage AGA but the hot plates are independently controlled. The benefit of which is you still have the warmth and fantastic cooking capability you want from your AGA but with a saving of up to 50% on the running costs. The Dual Control is also more controllable - a benefit that we really felt when the temperature climbed into the thirties.
With a 7am start on the show ground, we were glad of the opportunity to make our own delicious bacon sandwiches, supplemented by copious amounts of coffee. We had spent all of the previous day building and decorating our stand so felt exhausted already!
The new AGA was lifted into place and hooked up to the electricity supply and was a warm welcome when we arrived early in the morning. As the temperature started to climb, we were able to turn the ovens down to slumber, but still able to boil the kettle when we fancied a quick brew !
The annual summer cookware sale was still running over the three days so there were some significant savings to be had. Undeterred by the warmer weather, many customers were stocking up on AGA essentials. We did a roaring trade on cleaning materials so there must be lots of gleaming, shiny AGA's throughout Yorkshire now.
The sale meant that our stock of saucepans and kettles was soon depleted including sales of the new shallow AGA kettle - at 1.5 litres (just over two pints) it is ideal for smaller households and makes a welcome return to the AGA kettle range.
Another popular purchase was the attractive Mrs Madden Aprons. We now have matching hob hats to compliment the personalised apron collection and can be made to order as unique gifts for the AGA owner with everything!
This year, our stand was near the cow judging rings. The back of the stand was at the top of the cow ring so we learnt a lot from listening to the commentary going on over the course of the three day show. When we were putting our steaks in the griddle pan to cook our lunch it was somewhat disheartening to hear the beasts behind our tent. It really did feel like from hoof to AGA in one small step! It was enough to turn some of us vegetarian, but at least we can say that the livestock have a fantastic life and are very well cared for at every single stage of the food chain. It compels you to buy locally bred and reared meat.
For three days we enjoyed welcoming customers old and new to our stand. We were proud to be one of the first dealers to acquire the AGA Dual Control cooker and demonstrate it at the show. We felt that particularly given the warmer weather, we had come to the show with the most appropriate AGA.
2013 will go down as one of the warmest Great Yorkshire Shows we have done in the last 25 years. We are so pleased for ourselves, the organisers, the exhibitors, fellow trade stand holders and of course the visitors that it was such a different story to 2012.
