It is nearly 30 years since Balmoral Show ran into a Saturday, but there is no doubt that moving into the weekend this year proved to be a resounding success.

While there might have been proportionately more city dwellers at the event on Saturday, there was still a good number of farmers who came along with their families. In an age where farms are increasingly reliant on off-farm income, it is not always easy for family members to get time off work during a weekday. In the end, across the four days, the show attracted a record 115,000 visitors.

But the downside of moving to four days (something to be repeated in 2018) is that it is tough on livestock and trade exhibitors. There has to be an argument in the longer term to move to a Thursday-to-Saturday show, assuming all the livestock, and particularly the horse and pony classes, can be accommodated over the three days.

But moving back to three days will mean traffic again becomes more of an issue unless something is done to upgrade access to the site. While, in general, traffic flowed relatively well this year, there were still long delays leaving the car park in the evenings.

However, the mood among farmers at the show was positive, especially compared with last year, with improved prices and a sustained period of good weather.

As a result, it was hard to find a farmer who had voted for Brexit and was regretting that decision, despite plenty of warnings about what lies ahead.

Border controls

Whatever happens, two clear issues around Brexit emerged at the show.

The first thing is that we must do everything to avoid border controls on this island.

The second is that, whatever about calls for special status for NI, we must retain unrestricted access to the wider UK market.

Any outcome that doesn’t deliver on both will be a bad outcome for NI. Perhaps things might be clearer by the time the 2018 show comes around.