Blustery winds and prolonged showers produced a blast of January in June, with the weather gods choosing this auspicious, but most inappropriate, of moments to soak the Burley-on-the-Hill showground just as the Duke of Gloucester arrived as the show's first-ever Royal visitor.
At least the genial duke coped pluckily with the downpour. He toured drenched trade stands, presented trophies and met volunteer workers like Stefa Hart of Hambleton, chair of Macmillan Care. "He was very cheerful," said Stefa. "Despite being soaked he showed a great deal of interest in our work.
"He was particularly impressed that we'd collected 2,200 bottles of different drinks from most of Rutland's villages for our fund-raising tombola. We're tremendously grateful for people's help and the duke was amazed we'd collected so many. He hoped we'd raise as much money as possible and I told him we were always seeking volunteers.'
The duke arrived by helicopter in teeming rain. He presented the Hanbury Trophy for the first major equestrian event of the day to Charles Moynihan and praised runner-up Lorraine Tatlow and judges Dale Atkinson and Josephine Hart who'd got thoroughly soaked in the course of their duties.
He was accompanied by Lord Lieutenant of Rutland Dr Laurence Howard, Rutland Agricultural Society chairman Jeremy Skipper and show secretary Jo Morley as he squelched across the sodden showground.
The Grainstore Brewery maintained a steady trade with its ales and Grasmere Farm had many customers for its hog roast rolls. But although the Yorkshire Clothing Company was doing a brisk business in umbrellas an assistant admitted precipitation was seeping into its stock of wellingtons. "We thought we'd covered all the rain holes in the roof but we hadn't."
Twenty young riders of the Cottesmore Pony Club were also cheered for their musical ride under inspired instructor Linda Pearce of Langham to mark the club's 80th anniversary. The youngsters, aged from nine upwards, had practised their routines over the past four weeks and performed perfectly in the rain.
Local Rotary volunteers did sterling work in the car parks, but pedestrians had to wade through channels of mud to get to the main showground while drivers negotiated rivulets of slime en route to the Oakham-Cottesmore road.
Organisers had hoped a combination of pegged admission prices, relaxation of bluetongue curbs on livestock and decent weather would help them beat last year's attendance of 10,000. It took until 2pm on Sunday for the rain to cease, but despite the conditions every scheduled event took place, including the Devil's Horsemen and the Spitfire Flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which involved two planes which had taken part in the previous day's D-Day anniversary.
George Morley and his wife Audrey judged the livestock section and were particularly appreciative of the handlers who kept their charges calm despite rumbles of thunder overhead.