The Hainault Forest Country Summer Show, which has been running at the park in Fox Burrow Road, for the past 20 years, proved a massive hit with children and adults alike as many got to see and touch animals rarely seen in parks.

Creatures great and small came to a Hainault park at the weekend where youngsters came face to face with owls and miniature ponies.

A dog show saw proud owners parading their pooches and raising more than �200 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Charlie Owen, who has owned Oakleigh Fairs – which provides animals for events and shows across the UK – for the past five years, said: “It’s something I look forward to every year. The park is so clean and it’s always well attended.

“This year we were pleased to see about 5,000 people at the event during the course of the weekend.”

Youngsters had the chance to pet ferrets, stroke horses and get dressed up as knights in armour, as well as have their faces painted during the fun on Sunday and Monday.

Suffolk punch horses, a rare breed of which there are only around 30 born a year, paraded around the festival.

A complementary copy of the Recorder was given out thanks to Sainsbury’s in High Road, Chadwell Heath.

Families spent the afternoon practising line dancing and rope making and enjoying a children’s entertainer.