And for the first time, visitors will be able to buy tickets to the fair in advance on the Internetts - and benefit from a discount on the £8 entry charge - as well as avoiding a queue at the gates, on the day.

On top of the £1-a-head saving, everyone buying their tickets online will be entered automatically for a draw entitling the winner to a rare angling experience: either a day’s coarse fishing plus tuition with former world champion Ian Heaps or a day’s fly fishing on the hallowed River Wye. 

The Chatsworth Angling Fair website will have a separate box for entrants to indicate which of these outings they would prefer. What’s more, each and every ticket bought through the web will go into the draw. This means that if an angler orders four tickets for himself and his family in a single e-mail purchase, he will have four chances to win the prize.

In addition, because not everyone has access to the Internet, the organisers are maintaining the policy of offering £1 off tickets bought by post.  The discount will be available on all advance orders received by May 3. Coach parties of 30 or more can also obtain a 20 per cent discount.

For the show itself, a sure-fire attraction will be the 'Can You Beat the Stars?' surf-casting competition - launched at the 2005 Chatsworth fair. After tuition from the UK's world champion casters, such angling stars as John Wilson, Bob Nudd and Ian Heaps vied with each other to try to achieve the longest distances - which contestants from the public then tried to beat.

The event proved enormously popular, with several hundred taking part and a healthy sum raised for the Wheelyboat Trust for handicapped anglers. Two adult winners and two Under-16s received valuable tackle prizes donated by Shimano.

The overall winner, John Wray from Sheffield, was far ahead of all but one of the stars. By a mere few centimetres, he was second only to carp ace Frank Warwick, who also has a reputation as a big caster.

John will be back at the scene in May, invited as a guest of the organisers to see if he can improve on his impressive cast of 87.23 metres - some six metrers further than John Wilson’s best. Other visitors to the fair, competing for still-better prizes offered by Shimano, will now be challenged not just to beat the stars but, this time, 'Can You Beat the Man who Beat the Stars?'

Fair organiser Christopher Lloyd Owen said: "Between this and other new features at the 2006 Chatsworth Angling Fair, as well as the various price incentives, we have no doubt that the cumulative effect will be a considerable increase in our already large attendances."

To take advantage of the Internet discount fee for entry to the fair, Click here.

How to get there... For an enlarged version please click on the map.