Preparations for the 123rd Devon County Show, which will be held on showground, Exeter, are well underway and reveal a busy line-up of farming, food, rural life and entertainment.

There will be thousands of farm animals and horses, a huge food and drink pavilion, a fabulous floral art, gardens and rural crafts feature, a busy countryside area, a wide variety of exciting and entertaining displays and, for the farmer visitor, plenty of agricultural machinery to look at.

A new feature is the ‘Watering Hole’ where visitors will be able to tuck into local food and drink whilst listening to a packed programme of music. On Thursday evening visitors will be able to stay late and listen to the Queen tribute band ‘Rhapsody’ and on Friday night, ‘Sparks’ will be providing live band music.

Visitors will also be invited to take part in the celebrations for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which takes place on Show Saturday May 19.

“We are planning the greatest Royal wedding party in the county!” said Show Secretary Ollie Allen. “There will be a big screen in The Watering Hole, showing live TV coverage, lots of bunting, a mass confetti throw, a wedding headgear competition and the chance to send your good wishes to the happy couple by tying a tag to the Royal wedding trees, either in the Crafts & Gardens Pavilion or the BBC Devon feature. Afterwards the tags plus two suitable tree saplings will be sent to the ‘happy couple’ as a present from the Devon County Show visitors.”

A packed entertainment programme sees the return to the main arena of the mighty Monster Trucks display team, the grand parade of livestock and a new feature, Zorb football.

Some of Devon's leading marine conservation groups will be bringing the Devon coastlines to the Show for the first time; the Ocean Discovery Zone will have life-size models of marine life from the county’s coastal and ocean ecosystems.