Yorkshire folk are the most knowledgeable vegetable gardeners in mainland Britain, according to the Soil Association, the organic food body. Only the people of mainly agricultural Northern Ireland know more, according to the association’s latest survey.

Some 67% of Ulster folk know how to grow their own, just a single percentage point more than Yorkshire men and women.

In fact, the biggest veg growing areas in England are concentrated in the North East (65%) and North West (60%).

The figure dips to a mere 44% in London but, perhaps surprisingly, the worst performers in the veg stakes are Scotland (42%) and mainly rural Wales (35%), the lowest scorers in the table.