Flock to the show

The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) is getting set for the start of "Flock to the Show", a public art trail that will travel across Scotland this April and May. 

The art trail features over 35 specially designed, fibre-glass sheep sculptures, decorated by artists from across the UK. Designed to engage visitors of all ages, the trail will also raise awareness of different causes related to farming, including regenerative agriculture, rural isolation and climate change. 

The campaign celebrates the return of the Golden Shears World Sheep Shearing and Wool-handling Championships to the Royal Highland Show, which takes place in Edinburgh during Thursday 22 - Sunday 25 June 2023.  

Mairi McAllan MSP celebrates the launch of the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society's "Flock to the Show" campaign.

The herd of decorated fibre-glass sheep will move across Scotland to be admired by visitors until the Royal Highland Show. 

The dates and locations of the tour include:

Artists who designed a sheep include Charlotte Brayley from Comrie, Perthshire, whose art project on her pet sheep, Alan, helped pay for her wedding, and Megan Reilly from Hamliton, South Lanarkshire, who designed the "Shepherds Delight" sheep and has painted over 1000 murals in her artistic career.

As part of the campaign, there will be four opportunities, one in each area, to win a VIP Royal Highland Show experience for all the family – available for children and adults of all ages to enter. Budding artists can download a sheep outline from the Royal Highland Show website and create their own design to be in with a chance of winning. Information on how to enter can be found in the Flock to the Show section of the Royal Highland Show website.

Following the tour, the flock shall return to the Royal Highland Show during the Golden Shears in June this year, which will be the only time the sheep sculptures will gather together in one location. 

The flock will then be auctioned at a gala dinner in September to raise funds that will support the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland Bicentennial Fund, which supports projects dedicated to sustainability in the rural sector.

Find out the full details of the tour, including more on the locations and individual designs of the sheep, on the Royal Highland Show’s website.