Country Life Fair: The countdown begins

This weekend will see the countryside come truly to town for the Country Life Fair at Fulham Palace, London SW6, which runs this Saturday and Sunday.

Royal Patron Prince Michael of Kent will be there to start the fun, and the exhibitors, who will be travelling from all over Britain, will showcase the very best of rural enterprise, from Holland & Holland, E. J. Churchill and Purdey guns to clothing from Dubarry and the Really Wild Clothing Company and artworks from Hamish Mackie and Country Life’s Annie Tempest.

Ticket-holders will also be treated to a ‘tweed to town’ fashion show, Q&A sessions on country food with Tom Parker Bowles, horticultural inspiration from Chelsea gold-medal winner Cleve West, displays by the Kennel Club, a range of Country Life cocktails mixed by the team from Mayfair watering hole Mr Fogg’s and a ‘ginkhana’ (each gin tasted earns the sampler a rosette).

A Kid's Zone for children will ensure the little people find plenty to do, while those looking for love might give the new Muddy Matches App, launching at the Fair, a whirl - with so many similarly minded people in the same place at the same time, who knows where romance might blossom?

Those in possession of a Boodles Diamond ticket are also in with a chance of winning a Boodles diamond on each day of the event, Saturday and Sunday.

Our may guests and contributors are looking forward of what is sure to be a weekend of fun, new and old friends, and the possiblilty of some exceptional early Christmas shopping.

‘It will give visitors the opportunity to enjoy the countryside without leaving town,’ believes director Alec Mumford. Broadcaster and traveller Ben Fogle, who is serving as event President, feels it will ‘finish the late-summer season perfectly’.

Tickets start at £23 (0844 453 9286; www.countrylifefair.co.uk). Ticketholders can also enter the Country Life Fair Prize draw which has some incredible prizes including a weekend for two at Chewton Glen, Hunter Boots or a case of wine from Hambledon Vineyard, to name just three - * Find out more about the prize draw for the Country Life Fair.