THERE may have been flashes of lightning and bursts of torrential rain the night before the start of the Devon County Show but the weather could not dampen the spirits of both entrants and visitors to the county's annual biggest event. With crowds of around 30,000 for each of the three days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Westpoint in Exeter, there were many exhibitors from West Devon who enjoyed the festive occasion and meeting up with old friends. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as the president of the Devon County Agricultural Association, came on the opening day and even found time to bake a few organic cakes with school pupils, while her son Tom Parker-Bowles judged the spring sausage competition. Show secretary Ollie Allen said: 'The Devon County Show is a celebration of rural living in Devon – from magnificent livestock to fabulous food and drink, beautiful flowers and gardens – and is a spectacular showcase of country living. 'The Met Office were brilliant, keeping us updated every two hours. Reluctantly on Friday we had to switch the grand parade of livestock inside but although this was a two hour operation our staff did an excellent job and carried it out smoothly. 'If we can help people to increase their knowledge and be more aware of the quality of the quality produce from the animals here in Devon then we have done our job. Our intention is that people have a good time and with all the wonderful staff that help put this show together I think we have achieve that.' Headline enter-tainment included the Bolddog Lings Motorcycle Display Team, the street entertainment robot Titan, the Jonathan Marshall falconry display as well as a parade of hounds and horses.  Although the cattle entries were slightly down, due to restricted movements due to TB, standards were still high and competition keen. There were many successes from West Devon and East Cornwall, in an event which draws visitors from all over the South West and beyond. Among the West Devon successes were John and Anne Worden at Wrexham Cross Farm, Broadwoodwidger, Lifton, who have converted redundant dairy buildings to offices and storage were short listed for the county's most important annual farm diversification award at show.