UPDATED! - Thursday 24th July

This is it! The competition has begun. This morning all our drivers and their grooms attended their presentation. Three different judges inspected pony, carriage, driver and groom closely, giving them marks out of ten for each section. This meant that everything had to be immaculate. The English and Welsh teams did exceptionally well. The results speak for themselves!

In the 9-10 years Jay Snow was joint third, and sister Fleur was joint sixth in the 11-12 years.

Full marks to Alice Stables who was the very first competitor in the arena at 9am (having got up at 5.30am to clean her grey pony!). She came a very impressive joint fourth in the 13-14 years, with Clare Campbell and Amber O'Neill not far behind her in sixth and joint seventh respectively.

In the 15-16 years we really did well, with Katie Bell FIRST and Charlotte Snow SECOND. Well done girls!

Another great result in the 17-18 years as well, with Alice Pritchard in FIRST, Rosanna Walters-Symons SECOND, Mark Bell in fourth and Harriet Bradford joint sixth. Again, well done everyone. Excellent results all round!

So far this afternoon Alice S, Michael, Clare and Amber have done their dressage tests, with Fleur and Jay to go later in the afternoon. All the tests have gone well, and Sara and Anna are very pleased. No glaring errors, and a very appreciative audience, so fingers crossed!

STOP PRESS! Dressage results for 13-14 years just in!!!

For England, Amber O'Neill in second place, Michael Hodgson in sixth and Clare Campbell in 17th. Alice Stables (Wales) is in 18th. WELL DONE!!! 

Everybody else will be doing their dressage tomorrow, so expect updated on Friday evening as it will be very busy here all day getting warmed up and ready.

Our Nations Night went very well, a great time was had by all! Each nation had been asked to bring a sample of their food, so England put on a slap-up selection of bangers and mash with onion gravy, Eton mess, cheshire cheeses and Pimms, while Wales provided cawl, Welsh rarebit, bara brith, oatcakes and elderflower cordial. It has to be said that our food was by far the most popular of the night, with much of it gone within 20 minutes and many demands for more bangers and mash, Pimms and Welsh rarebit. One gentleman enjoyed the Eton mess so much he wanted to lick the bowl! Well done to our catering teams, and to everyone who pitched in to help (which was more or less the whole camp!).

The evening then continued with prizegiving for presentation, and all the competitors receiving a glass trophy to take home. We were also treated to some yodelling from the host nation!