Farmers embrace Norfolk Day to showcase their industry at harvest time

The inaugural Norfolk Day celebration gave the county's farmers a chance to illustrate the picturesque mosaic of this crucial industry at the peak of the harvest season.

It was a time to highlight the importance and diversity of the county's agriculture, which grows an estimated 7pc of the UK's food – ranging from the rich salad-growing soils of the western Fens, to cattle on the grazing marshes of the Broads in the east, and from the revered malting barley kingdom in north Norfolk to the sandy Brecks in the south, perfect for potatoes and pigs.

Among those taking to social media to celebrate Norfolk farming were Mark Robertson, a Freedom Food assessor for the RSPCA, who tweeted photos of Southdown sheep keeping cool with their EDP Norfolk Day hats in Wymondham.

North Norfolk-based farming contractor Kit Papworth was one of many who sent in harvest pics, after gathering this season's last field of oilseed rape. He tweeted: 'In a county famous for food production, food producers and fabulous food, let's be harvesting some!'

A combine driver's view of the harvest came from Frontier Agriculture, whose agronomist Ben Myhill was accompanying the farmer whose wheat crop he had helped to grow – grain destined for a local mill.

Swaffham poultry market auctioneer Fabian Eagle captured images of 'cows doing a hippo impersonation' by wallowing in a cool pool, and south Norfolk livestock farmer Helen Reeve sent photos of her 'minimoos' at Waveney Dexter Beef.

And during his whistle-stop tour of the county, Norfolk chef Charlie Hodson's took photos of farming scenes including a field of wheat ready for harvest, captioned: 'A simple frame that encapsulates the farming community, not just on @norfolkday but every day.'