IT is said to be the biggest social event in the travelling community’s calendar. Every year, about 10,000 travellers descend on the tiny Cumbria town of Appleby for the annual horse fair, which ended yesterday.

Over the past week, however, their numbers have been swollen by up to 50,000 other visitors, after the fair featured on the Channel 4 series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.

“As highlighted in the programme, there were countless groups of young girls walking around in eye-catching, sometimes skimpy, outfits and high-heeled shoes, hoping to catch the eye of a future husband,” said Helen Smithson, a reporter for The Press’s sister paper, the Northern Echo.

As its name implies, however, the fair is also about business. Held near the River Eden since 1685, Appleby is the largest horse fair in Britain, and among the oldest in Europe: a chance for the members of the travelling community to come together to buy and sell horses.

Every day, owners take their horses down to the River Eden to wash them before selling them.

It was this aspect of the fair that particularly interested Anthony Chappel-Ross, The Press’s award-winning photographer. He had never been to the horse fair before, but over the past few days he has been twice: and he made a bee-line straight for the river.

He had seen old black and white photos of travellers washing their horses in the river, and wanted to see if he could capture some of that spirit, he said.

“It’s part of the tradition, they bring their horses down in the morning, give them a really good clean in the river, and then go out and sell them.”

Appleby the town normally has a population of only 2,500 – so it was a bit crowded on the days he visited, Anthony admitted. But locals seemed to be getting into the spirit of things.

Much of the mile or so from Fair Hill down to the river is lined with houses. And right along the route, locals had been setting up stalls in their gardens, Anthony said, selling everything from mementos to glasses of orange juice.

The town was busy and bustling – but everyone seemed to be having a good time. “They all seemed very cheerful.”

Cumbria police agree. Inevitably, with so many people descending on one small town, there was the occasional problem. But the 48 people arrested during the week up to yesterday was sharply down on previous years, said Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham. “From a police point of view, Appleby Fair 2011 has been one of the safest and most enjoyable that we’ve seen for many years,” he said.

Billy Welch, who represents gipsies and other travellers, agreed. “It’s been a great fair, one of the best of recent years,” he said.

Stephen Lewis