THOUSANDS of foodies are set to descend on Alresford today for the town’s 14th annual Watercress Festival.

The free celebration will feature watercress flavoured sausages, burgers, bread, fudge, ice cream, beer and gin.

Pubs and restaurants will also be serving a range of watercress-infused dishes and local chefs will be giving cooking demonstrations to promote the versatility of of the green leaves.

Free bags of watercress and samples of watercress smoothie, or watercress pesto, will be available available but the organisers do urge visitors to give a donation to the Joe Glover Trust, the Colden Common-based children’s cancer charity, in return.

The main attraction of the event World Watercress Eating Championships – the first to munch their way through 85g of the green stuff wins. Last year’s winning time was 37.6 seconds.

Events begin at 10am with live jazz bands and half an hour later the Watercress King and Queen will arrive by horse and cart followed by Morris dancers, musicians and schoolchildren.

The Watercress Line will also be operating a historic train service between Alresford and Ropley stations for festival-goers.

The festival runs to 4pm and is supported by Alresford Chamber of Commerce, New Alresford Town Council, Hampshire Farmers Market and a host of Community Groups.

The principal sponsor is the NFU Watercress Association, which since 1936 has looked after the interests of watercress growers in England.