A Day at the Races

Yesterday I was at the Cheltenham Festival, watching Synchronised win the Gold Cup. It was the first time I'd been to the festival and it was definitely an experience! There was lots and lots of tweed in a huge range of outfits, some very sensible warm long coats and other, less sensible looking, mini skirts and hats.

The horses weren't the only animals we were watching yesterday either. On the way to the course we saw two red kites, many buzzards, a raven and lots of other birds-all leaping into action as spring arrives. Signs of the changing season were all around and I was right to think things would be a bit further on down south. Lambs were frolicking in the fields-looking quite grown up already- and daffodils were blooming everywhere!

One thing that did surprise me throughout the whole day was the occasional encounters with ethical food. We stopped on our way to the course for sausage/bacon baps and hot drinks (they were delicious) and I was surprised to see that the van in the lay-by was serving organic white bread and Co-op Fairtrade hot chocolate. It's not something you'd expect to see in a little side-of-road pull in. I didn't expect to see the organic food van at the races either, selling burgers and drinks and many other things. It looks like green living is creeping into our lives bit by bit without us noticing. The organic food van at the races wasn't any less busy than any others either so people must be happy to buy it too, which is great to see!

Racing isn't the only sport that's embracing ethical eating practices. Forest Green Rovers (who else could it have been!) are living up to their name under new Chairman Dale Vince with vegetarian only food inside the stadium and a partnership with Ecotricity to green the whole club from an organic pitch to players only eating vegetarian meals. This partnership looks truly inspirational and hopefully will help to inspire people to take green actions in their lives too. And maybe it will show people that going veggie doesn't mean having less nutrients or less exciting foods, if a football team can win on a veggie diet it must be good enough for the rest of us!