ROCK star Alex James proved he is top of the crops by joining youngsters to sow wheat at his West Oxfordshire farm.
The Blur bassist yesterday invited members of the gardening clubs at Kingham and Bledington primary schools to his 200-acre farm, at Kingham, to give them a taste of agriculture.
The pupils were joined by three of Mr James’s own children, Sable, Geronimo and Artemis. They were given planting tips by experts from the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester, which provided grain from the Prince of Wales’s own Gloucestershire farm.
The grain will be harvested by the children at the Big Feastival – a four-day music and food event, hosted by Mr James and his friend the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, at the farm in August. It will then be milled into flour and baked into bread.
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Mr James said: “The kids sprinkled the grain and went crazy with rakes. I know we are a rural community, but they were really clued-up and engaged. During the Big Feastival, they’ll be able to come back to harvest and mill it and turn it into flat breads.”
The Big Feastival takes place in Kingham from August 28 to 30. It features music from Groove Armada and Paloma Faith, plus cooking demonstrations.
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