Vale’s tomatoes tops says legend (From Evesham Journal)

Vale’s tomatoes tops says legend

8:00am Sunday 17th March 2013 in News

FRUITS nurtured in the Vale countryside are playing a starring role in a new advert for a much-loved British brand.

Tomatoes from the Vale of Evesham were selected as the tastiest of the bunch by Walkers and viewers may have watched the advert, with football legend Gary Lineker embarking on a journey across the UK to source new flavours, since its launch last Friday.

Walkers says it has chosen tomatoes nurtured in Evesham to flavour its relaunched prawn cocktail and tomato ketchupflavour crisps after experts picked Vale-grown fruits as the best on offer.

Marianne McGoldrick, marketing manager for Walkers, said: “We’re really excited about the new ad which showcases Walkers home grown ingredients and think viewers will love seeing Gary on his journey across the UK.”

Commenting on the advert, Mr Lineker said: “Driving a tractor is a lot harder than it looks – especially when the script calls for it to be driven across a suspension bridge and you’ve got a huge fear of heights.”

The brand also sent the football legend to visit a Vale farm to try the tomatoes for himself together with his father Barry – a market trader who ran Lineker’s fruit and veg stall in Leicester Market for more than 40 years. He said: “To fully appreciate and understand this journey of taste and provenance, I needed a hand from someone who knew his fruit from his veg, so my dad was the perfect partner.

We clocked up more than 800 miles in our trusty campervan and of course we had to stop off to taste the vine-grown tomatoes in Evesham – my dad’s map reading wasn’t up to much though!” Sebastian Micozzi, head of marketing for Walkers, said: “It was imperative to get the best tasting vine grown tomatoes available so we had to go to Evesham.”

Walkers has refused to say which Evesham farm grows the tomatoes used in its crisps.