ALRESFORD is gearing up for the biggest event of the year – its watercress festival on Sunday May 19.

The market town has become a foodie paradise as producers celebrate the plant that grows abundantly in the clear chalk streams of Hampshire.

It is the ninth annual event that is now cemented into the calendar as one of Hampshire’s premier festivals.

The town council tourism committee recently heard that a record number of stalls will throng Broad Street.

Highlights include the ‘Battle of the Pan’s in which teachers from Sun Hill Infants and Junior Schools in Alresford will swap their whiteboards for aprons and rolling pins as they work against the clock to devise a recipe with a mystery box of ingredients.

Cooks can pick up some top tips from food writer Rosemary Moon who will be demonstrating some of her own recipes.

Live music will be performed by local bands including the Pete Harris Quartet, Sussex Jazz Kings and the Southampton Ukulele Jam.

The ever popular World Watercress Eating Championships is another star attraction where competitors try to eat two bags of watercress in the quickest possible time and beat the Guinness World Record which currently stands at 46.69 seconds.

There will be a free tour at Pinglestone Farm to see how the crop is grown. Tours start at 11am and 2pm.

Charles Barter, of the Watercress Alliance, said: “Watercress is the UK’s most historic salad leaf and it’s one of our original superfoods brimming with vitamins and minerals and so it is fantastic to celebrate it in this way.

“The festival has played a very important role in helping to revitalise the watercress industry which is concentrated in Hampshire and Dorset and is now worth nearly £60 million. The area provides the perfect growing conditions for watercress due to the local chalk downs which provide the pure spring water in which the watercress is grown.”

The festivities begin at 10am with a cavalcade led by a traditional horse and cart, followed by a procession of Morris dancers, musicians and school children with the Watercress King and Queen handing out the first of the season’s British watercress to festival goers.

The festival is free with the only charge being the car park - £3 in Alresford or £5 at the Park and Ride in Ropley where visitors can start their day in old fashioned style by hopping on the Watercress Line steam train to the Festival.