ORGANISERS of the Devon County Show were forced to close entry to the event on Saturday afternoon after the brilliant weather prompted a sell-out day.

Free bottles of water and ice-creams were handed out as visitors queued to get in and out of the Westcountry's first major date in the agricultural show calendar.

Event secretary Ollie Allen described Saturday as a "bumper day" and reckoned thousands of people were attracted to the shopping malls, display marquees and livestock rings in a bid to shake off the economic gloom.

Footfall for three-day event has yet to be calculated, but she estimated between 90,000 and 100,000 people turned out. The record, in 2000, was 100,000 visitors.

Mrs Allen said: "Visitor numbers were definitely up. Saturday was a bumper day.

"We've not got the final numbers yet, but feedback from the people I did talk to was really good. We had one or two issues with traffic, but people were good-hearted about it."

Held at Westpoint near Exeter for the 20th year, roads leading to the event were gummed-up by families heading to the show, day-trippers in East Devon and tourists heading into the region.

Mrs Allen said: "The problems we had were because of the traffic for the show and the number of people coming into the area because of the Bank Holiday and half-term getting mixed up. It happens when the two clash."

With the car parks full and tailbacks building, the show closed its doors in the afternoon as Westpoint was "at the capacity of the safety of everybody involved".

Organisers took the decision to stop letting more people into the showground after taking advice from Devon and Cornwall Police.

She said: "It's all right pulling everybody in but you have to get them out safely. It was a decision we took after talking to Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.

"If people were in traffic we took out bottles of water to them in their cars. And for people waiting for transport to the overflow car park at Crealy Adventure Park, we gave them ice-creams."

There was evidence that visitors were being careful with their money, but many appeared determined to shrug off the economic gloom by buying value-for-money Westcountry produce.

"The stands had a good show. People were spending money but they were being selective. There was a sense that people had enough of the doom and gloom and they were happy to spend on something they were comfortable with.

"We did everything we could to make it affordable. We've been mindful that people are watching their pennies."

Mrs Allen, who has been running the Devon County Show for 13 years and is already planning for next year, said the event's success boded well for the remaining agriculture shows this summer.

Livestock numbers were "excellent" and the showground looked "immaculate", but she played-down any talk that the farming sector was immune from the vagaries of the recession. She said: "It's quite interesting that, when there's a general recession there's not a farming recession. And the other way around.

"But there is a lot of unseen suffering. Something like bovine tuberculosis is hurting a lot of people, but the Government is not doing anything about it."