Celebrate Nature, Food and Community at Northern Ireland’s Balmoral Show
The region’s largest agri-food show offers a unique and memorable insight into rural Ireland
Balmoral Show, Lisburn, 2023
If you’ve never seen a dancing JCB digger, the Balmoral Show (14–17 May) is your chance to see not one but eight in an awesome performance of synchronised machine manoeuvring. It’s just one of many entertaining events taking place over the four days of Northern Ireland’s largest agri-food event, which celebrate Ireland’s farming culture, rural traditions, and community connections.
Located at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn near Belfast, the event attracts over 110,000 people every year. It features a packed programme of events spanning showjumping, sheep shearing, sheepdog trials and numerous competitions that will crown the best horse, pig, goat, cow and other livestock animals across a number of classes.
Balmoral Show, Lisburn, 2022
Agriculture is a vital part of the Northern Ireland economy and livestock farming is hugely importance to the region. The Balmoral Show, now in its 156th year, is a celebration of this and an opportunity for visitors to experience authentic Northern Ireland.
The show also has hundreds of stands featuring local produce, crafts, natural beauty products, clothing and leisure products. There are cookery demonstrations from local celebrity chefs and a chance to sample a range of delicious artisan food.
The show’s Sustainability Village will feature businesses and charities promoting environmentally friendly products and services including renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Adding to the festival atmosphere is all-day live music and radio broadcasts from the Show Stage with a strong country music flavour including line dancing taster sessions.
A day spent at the Balmoral Show is a chance to slow down, sink into the local culture and take time to enjoy the sights and sounds of this unique event.
Silent Valley, Mourne Mountains
Be sure to stay a few days longer in Northern Ireland to discover and enjoy the scenic landscapes of the region which has eight designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, all a short distance from one another. These include the Mourne Mountains, a favourite for hikers, and the gorgeous Causeway Coast and the Sperrin Mountains with their geological complexity and broad sweeps of moorland. The Glens of Antrim, carved from glaciers millennia ago, are a walker's paradise, while the Strangford Peninsula offers gorgeous, drumlin-filled lough views. All of these areas have waymarked trails of varying lengths making them easy to explore.
Nearest to the site of the Balmoral Show is the Lagan Valley Regional Park Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It runs along the River Lagan basin and you can follow the riverside towpath all the way from Lisburn to Belfast past meadows, woods and pastoral land. The area also has a rich heritage with monuments such as the Neolithic Giant's Ring, Early Christian raths and important industrial archaeology related to linen production and the old canal.