IN August 2007, Berkeley Show organisers were forced to carry on without livestock at the 106th show after a foot-and-mouth outbreak was confirmed in Surrey.

A ban on sheep and cattle movements was in place after a second outbreak within the protection zone in Surrey.

The news was a double blow for Berkeley Castle, which last month had its Joust festival cancelled for two weekends due to the meadow flooding.

Farmers were desperately hoping the disease, which saw a cull of almost 10 million livestock in 2001, would not return to the county.

Andrew Jardine, of the Berkeley Estate, which saw 10 out of its 18 farmers cull their livestock a further six years before, said: “You could almost hear the groan when it came on the news on Friday with the feeling of, oh no, not again.

"We were part of the most concentrated number of culls for the country in 2001.

"It was pretty harrowing and some people still haven’t recovered.”

In 2001, the show was cancelled completely because of foot-and-mouth.

Christine Carter, Berkeley show committee secretary, said: “The show will go on, though with the stalls and the showground. All the planning and preparation will not go to waste.”

Some local farmers were trying to remain positive.

Martin Andrews, of Cattle Country, near Berkeley, said: “In 2001 we were part of the cull of the area to prevent further spread.

"We didn’t have the disease, but we lost all of our livestock and rare breeds.

“Our takings were really badly affected and we have only just started to properly recover.

"Our American bison numbers are only just back up to big herd size, but hopefully nothing is going to happen.”

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had announced that cattle on a farm near Guildford, Surrey had tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease, and 120 animals were culled during one weekend.

A second outbreak affecting 50 cattle was confirmed the following Monday.

It was believed the source of the outbreak came from an animal disease research site at Pirbright.