Barns set to host potato festival

Farming heritage will be celebrated at Wingfield Barns on Saturday with a Potato Festival.The event, which has been organised by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts' Culture of the Countryside project, will take place between midday and 6pm.

Farming heritage will be celebrated at Wingfield Barns on Saturday with a Potato Festival.

The event, which has been organised by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts' Culture of the Countryside project, will take place between midday and 6pm.

The festival is part of a larger celebration of the heritage of farming in the area, which includes an exhibition of work by regional artists and local schools, together with a display of special community projects.

The day will make imaginative use of the potato crop with art activities and games, cooking and competitions. There will be music and dancing from Rig a Jig Jig and visitors will have the chance to make corn dollies with the Museum of East Anglian Life. Swingletree Stables will be offering horse and carriage rides.

Dr Andrew Jones from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia will give a workshop on health and the environment, and there will be talks on a broad range of subjects, including bee keeping and outdoor cooking.

The potatoes to be used on the day were planted by the Culture of the Countryside team at Wingfield during the Easter holidays, along with local people, artists, farmers and horse enthusiasts. Two pairs of heavy horses ploughed the land, while a 1958 Massey Ferguson tractor was used for the planting.

Admission to the potato festival is �1.