BEAUTIFUL double white Tamar Valley daffodils — a bloom once famous in Victorian times but seldom seen in shops now — will be on show at this Saturday's farmers' market in Tavistock.

The double white appears at the market courtesy of the History of Market Gardening in the Tamar Valley Project, which will also mount a small exhibition for shoppers to view.

The double white was first marketed in the 1880s by Septimus Jackson of Clamoak Farm, Bere Alston — a tentative move which soon proved massively popular, there being few flowers on offer at its blooming time, Whitsun.

By the 1940s, growers were getting half-a-crown a bunch at places like Covent Garden and Liverpool.

But in 1922 an eelworm plague destroyed many of the Tamar Valley bulb-fields — then the Second World War took its toll, as ground was dug up to grow foodstuffs.

Now, the Market Gardening Project estimates there are just three surviving fields of double white daffodils in the whole of the Tamar Valley.

You can find out more information about the Tamar Valley Marketing Gardening Project by asking team members at the market stall on Saturday in Bedford Square, between 9am and 1pm.