How to Learn All About Watercress at the Alresford Watercress Festival

Despite the name, the Alresford Watercress Festival isn’t just about a dark green salad leaf. Taking place in the small village of Alresford in Essex, the watercress capital of the UK, the Festival boasts parades, fun fairs, cookery demonstrations, workshops, farm tours and a delicious food market all inspired by the green stuff. It’s a must for watercress fanatics and aficionados alike, attracting crowds of thousands every year.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Find the village of Alresford 24 miles northeast of Chelmsford, and seven miles from Winchester. If you’re driving, look under New Alresford in the map. Alternatively trains from London to Alton take approximately one and a half hours, where you can board the Watercress Line heritage railway.
2. Arrive in picturesque Alresford early on the day of the festival, which takes place every year on a Sunday in May. The opening hours are usually from 10am to 4pm, and the event kicks off with impressive parade on Broad Street led by Alresford’s Watercress Man, a ‘magical riverbed creature’, and featuring children from local schools, stilt walkers, street performers and fancy dress.
3. Leave your car at Ropley station to benefit from a free trip on the historic Watercress Line railway, so called because it was used by local watercress farmers to transport their goods to Covent Garden market. The steam train takes eight minutes to Alresford, but you can board the train at Alton (tickets are £10 for adults from here) to experience the whole 40 minute trip.
4. Peruse the tasty watercress treats. All produce is watercress-inspired, including watercress crepes, soups, sausages and even ice cream and chocolates!
5. Grab a bunch of free watercress given out by the UK’s Watercress Alliance throughout the day. In return for a donation to the Lynn Faulds Wood Bowel Cancer campaign, you’ll receive some of Alresford’s finest homegrown watercress.
6. Take your children along to experience the long list of activities for kids. Aside from regular village fair attractions, Alresford’s Watercress Festival also runs a series of cooking classes for children during the day. The children’s watercress cookery workshop, aimed at kids between five and nine years old, costs £12 for an hour and should be booked beforehand.
7. Keep your eyes open to take in the action on the street.
8. Spot the best watercress producers and chefs in the country battling it out to win one the annual Watercress Festival food awards.
9. Watch celebrity TV chef Anthony Worrall Thompson’s cookery demonstrations as he shows the crowds how to cook watercress recipes he creates especially each year for the Alresford Festival and in celebration of National Watercress Week.
10. Stroll down away from the main street to one of Alresford’s watercress farms to take a farm tour. The one hour tours are free and you’ll be able to meet the watercress farmers and learn about production methods.

Tips & Warnings

• As always, bear in mind that despite the Watercress Festival’s May date, there’s every chance it could rain. Take an umbrella or waterproof with you!