MORE than 15,000 people took advantage of the fine weather on Saturday to attend the Cleveland Show, one of the region's most unusual agricultural shows.

The country show, billed as "see the country - come to town," is one of the largest agricultural shows in the area despite being in the heart of industrial Middlesbrough at Stewart Park.

It also thought to be the only agricultural show in the country to be held in an urban park.

Thousands of people from across the North-East and North Yorkshire attended and there was a particularly large entry in the horse show competitions.

In fact there were so many entries the supreme champion could not be announced until 5.30pm, nearly an hour-and-a-half over schedule.

The supreme champion was Amber Blyth, a 21-year-old equestrian from Newcastle, with her Irish Sports Horse, Caltra QC, who went home with the Captain J Cook Trophy.

She said: "I'm delighted. I certainly didn't expect it, it's only my second year of showing horses."

Another big winner was Steven Kirby, 20, of Ainderby Steeple, near Northallerton, who won the supreme sheep trophy, the Dennis Trophy. He explained he had already won two other championships with his crossbred sheep this year.

He said: "I like this show, and I won here last year. You do get children who don't often see farms and animals and it's nice to let them see the sheep and we sometimes maybe let them have a little play with the sheep."

Other big winners on the day were Arthur Yeoman, of Scaling, near Loftus, who won in the vintage machinery category, Anne Turnbull, of Coxwold, near York, named supreme beef cattle champion for her Aberdeen Angus bull and Rachel Goldie, of Danby Wiske, Northallerton, who was named supreme dairy cow champion for her Holstein breed cow.

Barrie Robinson, show director, said the show had made a recovery since 2012 when it had to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. He expected it would make a profit this year, which would be ploughed back into the show's finances.

He said: "It's important to keep the show's heritage as a horticultural and agricultural show. If you look at our demographics of people around Middlesbrough, you'll find people who won't necessarily see an alpaca or the national goat of the year, or whatever.

"It is about bringing the country to town, but also taking the town to the country."

Cleveland Show began as the Stockton Show in 1944 but eventually moved to Stewart Park in 1963 as the Teesside Show and, years later, was named the Cleveland Show.