Newbury schools visit Showground for potato planting day

Four schools recently visited Newbury Showground for the Planting Day of its Potato Challenge.

On March 11, pupils from Robert Sandilands Primary, Mary Hare Primary, Compton Primary and Brookfields School arrived at the showground at 10am where they rotated round four activities.

These included a talk about how to look after potatoes, before planting seed potatoes of Rocket and Red Duke of York varieties - the pupils had been ‘chitting them in advance in school’.

They also decorated potato cakes; tasted potato salad and chocolate potato cakes; heard the story of George Crum, an American chef credited with inventing crisps; and took part in a blind crisp tasting which looked at how taste and smell are linked.

They sampled a crisp by holding their noses and then releasing them so the flavour gets stronger.

The schools departed around 11.30am and took their seed potatoes back to school to look after.

They will return on June 17 to harvest them.

St Finian’s Primary School are also taking part in the challenge, but are going to plant the seed potatoes at school and then go along for the harvesting event in June.