Trentham Spudfest 2012

One cold Saturday, Chyken took me on a craptastic adventure.

We went to Trentham, to Spudfest 2012!

Trentham is a lovely little town, not too far from the castle.  There were three markets there.  And a man with an assortment of animals in his ute. I wanted to take one home, but Chyken rightly pointed out that we don't have a ute.

However, he couldn't say no when we found a stall selling BEE hats!!!  It even has wings!!!

They had twirly potatoes on sticks.  If you have never had a twirly potato on a stick then the next time you see them for sale you should RUN to the stall and get yourself one!  So great we went back for seconds!

I met Mr Spud.  He was lovely and didn't even try to feel me up, like so many mascots these days do.

We went on a bus tour to see some Spud Huts.  No idea what a spud hut is?  Nah, I didn't either this morning.  Turns out they were huts built in ye olde dayes by the spud farmers for the spud pickers to live in.  There are lots still standing around Trentham.

This one was pretty basic. No power or anything, basically a room with a fireplace and room for a bed.

This is Reg.  He had just come from the paddock where he had been picking potatoes and knows quite a lot about Trantham, pubs and spuds.  He made very good friends with Chyken, sat next to him on the bus and everything.

This is a brick spud hut.  Once again, pretty basic inside, but somewhat less draughty than the wooden ones that weren't sealed up from the weather.  It's very cold in Trentham.  Reg told us a story about a potato picker who took his boots off one cold day and two of his toes stayed in the boot.

We stopped at this pub, I think mainly so Reg could get a drink, but also to hear some tales of spud farming from one of the district's old timers.  Interesting stuff.

The photo doesn't really do these chickens justice, they were HUGE!  Or maybe just very fluffy, either way, they were very cool.

And they live in a very posh looking chook house.  Glass windows!

This was the last spud hut we saw.  There was a man who lived in this hut until he died at 90.  Apparently when the current owners bought the land, he came with it.  They had power put on for him, but he still washed in the creek nearby and had no toilet.

I should mention that he didn't die until 2004.

He lived in these conditions until 2004! Amazing!

After we had another twirly potato it was time to go home.  On the way home we saw the biggest group of alpacas I have ever seen.  Alpacas are Chykens favourite animal.  Do you know what the collective noun for a group of alpacas is?  Nah, me either.  I tried to look it up, but it would appear no one is really sure.  Some say flock, some say herd.  My favourite suggestion was a 'Spittoon of Alpacas'.  I'm gonna go with that!

This was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.  We are so lucky to live where we live!



Do you love craptastic things as much as I do? What's the most craptastic thing you've been to or seen?