IT’S that time of the year again that everyone has been waiting for – the most important calendar event of the year in the Five Valleys.

That’s right, it will soon be Stroud Potato Day.

On Saturday February 4 green-fingered growers of all persuasions will gather at in Merrywalks Shopping Centre to celebrate the humble spud in all its majestic glory.

Run by Transition Stroud and Down to Earth, the seventh annual Stroud Potato Day aims to encourage more people to grow their own food, starting with potatoes.

A variety of seed will be available at competitive prices and can be bought in small numbers, even singly, to encourage those with small gardens or containers to grow their own.

Advice will also be given so people have never grown food before and are thinking of starting can get all the information they need.

There will also be Lemon Drizzle Cake made with potatoes to sample and copies of the Stroud Potato Day Recipe Book available for sale.

Some of the most popular varieties on offer on the day will be: for roasting, King Edwards; for baking, Desiree; for early taste, International Kidney and for salads, the knobbly Pink Fir Apple.

Philip Booth who began the event in 2011 said: “Stroud Potato Day is a celebration of the potato - we hope folk who have never grown veg at all will give a spud a go and those that have will try some different varieties.

“We have half a tonne of seed potatoes that we will be selling from a stall in Merrywalks; come and talk to us.”

The amazing ‘Stroud Potato Day Recipe Book’ was originally released back in 2011.

The new edition has 40 recipes from local people and restaurants including local food writer and critic Matthew Fort - plus nutritional advice regarding potatoes and folklore.

For example, did you know that keeping ginger with potatoes helps keep both fresh?

The book will be available on Potato Day for just £5 with the money raised going to Transition Stroud.

The seventh annual Stroud Potato Day will take place from 10am to 2.30pm.

For more information go to: stroudpotatoday.blogspot.co.uk/

Stroud News and Journal: