The animals came back two by two - hurrah!

Now restyled by marketing moguls as the Three Counties Countryside Show, to emphasise its broadening appeal, the three-day extravaganza sees the return of livestock classes after a two - and in some cases three - year absence.

Bovine TB saw off the dairy classes in 2000, then the aftermath of foot-and-mouth accounted for the rest of the cloven hoofed animals in 2001 and 2002 and although the show went ahead as usual in those years, it didn't smell right.

You missed the whiff from the cattle lines on a sunny day, the bleating of the sheep and the snoozing of the sleek pigs in the straw.

Although not everyone visits the Three Counties for the livestock - there's much to do without ever going near a goat - an agricultural show needs an agricultural fragrance to make you feel at home. This year the Three Counties is back to its aromatic best.

"We've been very heartened by the entries in the livestock classes," said show manager Doreen Smillie.

"Comparisons are difficult, but they are well in line with previous years and there are some record entries among the horses.

"As far as livestock are concerned, new for 2003 are an All-Breeds Dairy Calf Show and a Young Handlers Competition, both on Saturday."

This will be the third "weekend" show, with the event running over Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 13-15) instead of midweek, and one of the worries of this format has always been the increased cost to livestock exhibitors of being at Malvern on the Sunday.

They have to employ extra cover at home at weekend rates, making exhibiting a more expensive business.

To ease this, the show is holding the bulk of its livestock competitions over the first two days, which means exhibitors should be back home by Saturday evening. However, goats and alpacas will still be judged on the Sunday.

The only downside to this is that for many Three Counties visitors the Grand Parade of livestock is one of their favourite features and without any livestock on Sunday a parade that day would be a problem.

Thankfully, a fairy has waved a magic pitchfork.

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust had asked the Three Counties Agricultural Society whether it could stage its One Day Show and Members Day at Malvern and this has now been incorporated into the Three Counties Show's last day.

So on Sunday there will be a Grand Parade, but it will be of Rare Breed winners rather than livestock.

"We have always included a number of competitive classes for rare breed livestock at the June show," said Miss Smillie, "but a dedicated rare breed event is a first for us and we are very excited about it."

The "show within a show" will also be bringing its own personalities, for it will be opened by poet and rare breed keeper Pam Ayres and championship cups will be presented by colourful MP, Nicholas Soames, the RBST president.

News of a burgeoning Three Counties will be good news for many folk for whom the event is one of the year's yardsticks - if it's June it must be the Three Counties Show - and an important date on their social calendar. A chance to meet old friends and have a natter.

Billed as the place where town meets country, it now has attractions for just about everybody, this year from a strongman's competition to gun dog displays, international show jumping to a celebrity cookery theatre, but it hasn't always been thus.

The event has its roots in the formation of the Herefordshire Agricultural Society in 1797.

This organisation held its first show in Broad Street, Hereford, the following year, under the presidency of the Earl of Oxford, which was attended by the Duke of Norfolk, the Hon. E Foley MP, C B Clive Esq "and many others of quality".

It made a profit of £43. Possibly a tidy sum in those days.

The society continued to hold its annual show in the streets of Hereford until 1836, after which it moved to various fields adjoining the city.

In 1861 it became a two-day show and the first three-day event was held in 1874.

In 1894, the Hereford society joined with Worcester Chamber of Agriculture to become the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Agricultural Society and the first show under the new title was held in Worcester under the presidency of the Earl of Beauchamp.

Finally, Gloucestershire Agricultural Society came on board in 1922 and the Three Counties Agricultural Society was born.

The first year the amalgamated society came to Worcester, in 1924, was a disaster.

The show was due to be held on Pitchcroft, but freak rains on the day before opening flooded the racecourse to a depth of eight feet, causing abandonment and racking up a loss of £2,144. A considerable amount, which would have been worse had not exhibitors and members dipped into their own pockets.

Fortunately, there have been a lot of sunny days since. Until 1958, the Three Counties Show moved around Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire at a different venue every year. But then the Society purchased land in Blackmore Park Road, Malvern, with a picturesque backdrop of the famous Hills, and a permanent show site was created virtually at the centre of the three counties.

The new showground was christened in the most spectacular way, when its first event was visited by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and over the years, most members of the Royal Family, including the Queen, have touched down there.

The one notable exception was Princess Diana, who would surely have attracted record crowds.

In truth, the show could probably have done with a turbo boost this year to really get it back on track. Especially as it is being gradually overhauled by the expanding Spring Gardening Show in May, which last month enjoyed a record attendance of 93,000.

But organisers are hoping the full programme Three Counties, combined with the weekend format which make it easier for families, will again prove a winner.