For a fun packed family day out, head to the beautiful Georgian town of Alresford, Hampshire, the home of watercress, on Sunday 17th May for the 6th annual Watercress Festival (10am to 4pm). A highlight of the event is the festival Cavalcade with Morris dancers, musicians and street entertainers bringing the first British Watercress of the season into town. There will be cooking demonstrations, the World Watercress Eating Championships and a huge farmers market. There will also be free watercress farm tours. Click here for details.

Watercress is believed to have originated in ancient Greece and remains an integral part of Mediterranean diets with delicious recipes such as stuffed peppers, falafel pitta pockets, Morrocan spiced roast vegetables with watercress, onion and chickpea salad of Italian butternut and watercress cannelloni. Watercress soup became the height of fashion in Victorian times in Britain as it was thought it could cleanse the blood. Today, watercress is most commonly used in summer salads.

Discover the rich culinary heritage of this natural superfood which has long been an integral ingredient in the British diet and learn why it’s ‘not just a bit on the side’. The book is packed with over 30 delicious recipes, history, folklore and health facts celebrating our most historic salad leaf. The book also contains five exclusive recipes and a foreword from celebrity chef and watercress fan Antony Worrall Thompson. Click here to order your copy for £6.99 plus £2.78 p&p via this website or for your chance to win a free copy visit our competition page.

Watercress is brimming with over 15 vitamins and minerals, gram for gram containing more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach. Research is also highlighting its role in the fight against cancer. The results of a new study being conducted by the University of Southampton into watercress’s potential ability to suppress breast cancer cell development are due to be announced later this year.