Championship brimful of fashion as country couture steps out in Carlow

THE head garb designs of the men at the national ploughing championships at Grangeford, Tullow, Co Carlow, yesterday, were in a class of their own.

They varied from the wooly styles of sheep farmers and ploughmen to the peaked caps of middle ground farmers and the more sporty types favoured by younger generations.

There was not a bowler in sight as thousands of rural folk walked the aisles of the shopping arcades and strode across to the ploughing plots, well protected from the threatened rain with warm clothing, wellies and boots.