(February 2025) People go mad for Potato Fest near Shrewsbury

Shropshire Star

Right from the off it was busy at Wattlesborough Village Hall where people could get their hands on around 40 different varieties of seed potatoes, and more. Experts were on hand to chat and the tea and cakes looked rather scrumptious too.

Transcript

00:00So we're here at Wattlesborough Village Hall, have I pronounced that right?

00:03Yes, you have.

00:04Cool, just a stone's throw from Shrewsbury, sort of.

00:07Yes.

00:08And introduce yourselves, go on madam.

00:10I'm Rachel Strewens, Chairwoman of Shropshire Organic Gardeners.

00:14And up here is... go on sir.

00:16Ian Cholm, Organiser of Potato Day.

00:18Cool, now I've not been to Potato Day here, I think I came to the socially distanced one at a farm possibly a few years back.

00:26This is full on, you know, everyone's scrambling for their spuds, isn't they?

00:30What's it all about then?

00:32Rachel?

00:34What's the day all about?

00:36Well we sell, basically we sell seed potatoes to our members and other people and we...

00:46Yeah, so people...

00:48Yeah, so people, you're not getting these, you know, up your supermarket, so that's what's special about it.

00:54These are specially grown by the breeders.

00:56Yeah.

00:57And they're guaranteed virus free.

00:59Okay, yeah.

01:00So we have as many varieties as we can get here.

01:03Yeah.

01:04Which this year is 39 varieties.

01:07Wow.

01:08And we sell them by the tube, so you can buy one and you can buy 10 or 100.

01:13So seed potato, does that mean people are using these to then go on and grow their own kind of...

01:18Exactly.

01:19Set in the garden, like expand them sort of thing, yeah.

01:21Yes.

01:22Cool.

01:23And how long's this event been going for?

01:2521 years this year.

01:27Yeah?

01:28Yeah.

01:29Cool, that's good going.

01:30And are people, the growers, are they coming from far and wide or is it all shops here?

01:34No, I've got friends that have come down from Cheshire.

01:38Yeah.

01:39People across from Scope and Wales as well.

01:41Yeah.

01:42A lot of people come across the border.

01:44So here's one for you, I asked some young lad this, potato, what format?

01:48Bit of mash on your potato, a bag of chips or some crisps.

01:51If you had to pick one of them, what are you going for out of those?

01:54Oh, probably roasties.

01:56Oh, you know what, roasties, that's a good one.

01:59Yeah, mash for me.

02:00Mash.

02:01Now, I come from Irish ancestry, so my nan is Irish.

02:06So I thought it was perfectly normal that my mum used to give me raw potato to eat when she used to make the chips.

02:12And then I realised that's not that normal actually.

02:15No.

02:16Have you dabbled with a bit of raw potato?

02:19Because I used to love it.

02:20We haven't, but it might be worth a go now.

02:23It's really, really nice.

02:25Have you had a go?

02:26I haven't, simply because they do say that you really shouldn't eat raw potato.

02:30Oh, right.

02:32I wonder if that message has got through to Ireland yet.

02:35Right, I wonder if I have to give some health warning with this video clip.

02:39Yes, absolutely health warning.

02:41But let's just say in the old days, before we knew better, they were delicious.

02:45It was really nice actually.

02:46Excellent, good.

02:47Cool, so you must be pleased with the turnout, yeah?

02:49Oh, yes.

02:50I mean, you know, you've only been open the door, what, 15 or so minutes and look at it.

02:54Yeah, great.

02:55Last year we had 500 people in the door in the morning.

02:58Yeah, wow.

02:59And we're expecting that again this year.

03:00Great stuff.

03:01Well, thanks guys for organising a great event.

03:03Can I just say, I really want to thank all the team of Shropshire members, the SOGS members.

03:10You should say actually, SOGS.

03:12What is SOGS?

03:13SOGS is Shropshire Organic Gardeners.

03:15That's it, yeah.

03:16And we have got a massive team of our members that volunteered to set up last night.

03:21Yeah.

03:22And be here to help us run it on the day.

03:24And they're a great team to work with.

03:26Cool.

03:27Hats off to them.

03:28And hats off to you guys.

03:29Well done, guys.

03:30Thanks.

03:32We've got double trouble in the potato house.

03:34We've got the twins.

03:35How are you doing, lads?

03:36What's your names?

03:37Willie, I'm Willie and I'm Thomas.

03:39How old are you lads?

03:40Nine.

03:41Nine.

03:42And have you ever been to a potato day before?

03:44No.

03:45You have?

03:46I didn't expect it to be a day before.

03:47All right, all right.

03:48Have I?

03:49Yeah, when we were kind of young.

03:50You have?

03:51Yeah.

03:52Oh, veterans.

03:53Veterans.

03:54And what do you think then?

03:55You having fun?

03:56Yeah.

03:57Yeah, yeah?

03:58And do you love a spud?

03:59Yeah.

04:00So which way do you prefer?

04:01I like crisps.

04:02Well, I was going to say, which is best then?

04:03Potato on your dinner or some chips or a crisp?

04:05Which one?

04:06I think I like all of them.

04:09All of them.

04:10That's probably a good answer.

04:11Enjoy your day lads.

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