The ingredients for magic brews in Durham aren't bat's blood and toad's warts but farm manure and Epsom salts. They seem to work nevertheless. The prize-winning leeks they nourish make southern leeks look like shallots.
Those southerners who know about the North East leek contests regard them as just a joke. But there is more to them than that. For men like Brian Shave of Lyton Leek Club, leek growing is a tie with a traditional culture that is still firmly held on to despite social change.
(from Bristol)