A tasty celebration of asparagus

Shropshire farmers are celebrating a bumper crop of asparagus which arrived two weeks early this year because of the hot weather.

A celebration of the crop is being held on a farm near Market Drayton, while workers have been cropping using special "buggies" on a farm in Bridgnorth to cope with the volume. Trevor Lee, of Lodge Farm, in Quatt, has more than 30 years experience of growing asparagus.

Mr Lee, who sells his produce to Waitrose, among other well-known supermarkets, said: "We had a very mild and dry winter with very few frosts, which brought the season forward by about two weeks.

"Asparagus doesn't like the cold. We use little buggies for the cutters to ride in, which is something quite different. We have got seven of them working at the moment because of how much asparagus we have."

Nick and Helen Furnival, of Hungersheath Farm, in Ashley, who grow asparagus and soft fruit are hosting two tasting events and people are invited to their farm shop.

The couple, who have been growing the vegetable for 21 years, have been cooking asparagus in a variety of ways for hungry visitors yesterday and today at the farm shop, which is five miles out of Market Drayton on the A53.

Mrs Furnival said: "We will have a variety of asparagus recipes to taste, a barbecue and many other free tastings from our farm shop which supplies produce from local businesses.

"The asparagus season is a great one this year so we are inviting people to come and celebrate it with us."

People who go to the farm shop will also be shown the production fields and have the opportunity to look around the delicatessen.

Mr Furnival said his favourite way of cooking asparagus was on the barbecue and this would definitely be on the menu for guests.

He said: "We hope we will be able to give them a few ideas about the best ways to eat asparagus and mine at the moment is on the barbecue which gives it a great nutty taste.

"Establishing asparagus on the fields is critically difficult and everything has to be perfect. On a sunny day I would expect the crop to grow at least three inches."

By Oliver Cartwright and Simon Alton