The first bunch of British Asparagus has sold for £181.
Going on sale on Friday (13 February), just in time for Valentine’s Day, the very first bundle was auctioned off for the St Michael's Hospice charity in Hereford, raising the three-figure sum. Hix restaurants took the honours.
Wye Valley Asparagus, based in Herefordshire, cultivated the early spears under cover, and sent the bunches out to several recipients, as well as delivering the prized crop to the Marble Arch branch of Marks and Spencer.
The Wye Valley asparagus season will get going properly in early April, with the farm's forced rhubarb on the horizon in the next few weeks.