THE tables were turned in the Suffolk Sheep classes at the Royal Norfolk Show this week, with a success for the breed's home county.

THE tables were turned in the Suffolk Sheep classes at the Royal Norfolk Show this week.

At the breed's home county show last month, the supreme title was taken home to Norfolk by Gordon and Elizabeth Beddie from Swaffham.

But at the Royal Norfolk, it was the other way around with Chris and Sarah Partridge, from Kersey, near Hadleigh, claiming top honours with a shearling ewe.

The Partridges' Kersey flock, which totals just over 100 ewes, ranks among the largest in East Anglia and is also one of the oldest in the country, having been established in 1927.

In addition to shearling ewe which went on to win the female and supreme champion titles at the Royal Norfolk, there were further wins for the flock in the stock ram and flock ewe classes and the butchers' award.

There was another breed championship for Suffolk at the show, with Diane Middleditch from Belchamp St Paul, near Sudbury, winning the Hampshire Down supreme title with a ewe lamb.

Within the beef cattle section, the inter-breed title went to the three-year-old Limousin heifer Sundale Bonbon, home bred by Peter Gooderham and his father John of Red House Farm, Gislingham, near Eye.

And there was also success for Suffolk in the pigs section, with Peter Mortimer from Metfield, near Halesworth, sweeping the board in the commercial classes by winning all six classes, so also guaranteeing the championship and reserve.