The roar of engines of all shapes and sizes echoed around a country estate today as thousands of spectators dodged the showers for the opening of the Eye Show.

The roar of engines of all shapes and sizes echoed around a country estate today as thousands of spectators dodged the showers for the opening of the Eye Show.

A packed programme of events got into full swing for the first day of the rural extravaganza, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year.

Organisers said that attendances were slightly down as a result of some torrential downpours that caused many visitors to run for their cars.

However, officials are looking forward to better weather tomorrow when the Red Arrows will be performing in the skies above Goodrich Park at Palgrave, near Diss.

As well as a busy main arena, this year's show has six smaller areas including mountain bike displays, motorcycle trails, 4x4 off road course, horse displays, and live music.

Tim Seeley, show director, whose family has been running the Eye Show since the 1960s, said the first day had gone 'very well', despite the rain.

'We had one deluge where everything stopped, but it all came back to life within half an hour. Hopefully we shall keep the sun for the rest of the weekend.'

'We try every year to improve on the previous year and we have a lot more side stages and there is a lot more activity around the edges of the show. It is jam packed with things running all day over seven separate arenas,' he said.

A welcome new addition to this year's Eye Show is the British Lawn Mower Racing Association, which has taken over one corner of the showground.

Thirty-four mower drivers from across the country, including Yorkshire, Sussex, the south coast and the West Country have descended for two days of racing.

Sally Lovett, the Norfolk-based organiser of the mower racing event, who has been trying to stage a local meet for 13 years, said: 'We love shows like this and promoting the sport and we find when we come to a show it attracts a lot of interest and people wanting to get involved. It is the poor man's motorsport and everyone is really friendly. The turnout has been fantastic for this meet.'

The Eye Show runs from 9am to 7pm tomorrow . Entrance is �10 for adults, �5 for children and �27 for a family ticket.