hereforDshire people will feature among Rick Stein's Food Heroes after the celebrity chef visited Bosbury for his new autumn series.

Mr Stein was on the trail of hop asparagus, the world's most expensive vegetable, currently selling at £300 a kilo.

The BBC contacted Hop-mania, of Munsley Court, which markets hop asparagus. Filming took place on Sunday at Townend Farm, Bosbury, which supplies Hopmania.

Hopmania owner Mark Berry said: "We wanted to feed him while he was here, so we recreated hop pickers' stew, which, as I told him, was made from anything they could get their thieving hands on!"

Mr Stein came back for seconds of the Victorian stew, prepared by Mr Berry using rabbit meat, marinated in mustard and farmhouse cider, and a good piece of gammon.

Mr Stein and his crew were also treated to other local produce including Westons cider, preserves from Elizabethan England and fruit, vegetables and juice from the Little Verzons Fruit Farm.

However, it was the hops that really caught Mr Stein's attention. He cooked hop asparagus in the kitchen of Gill Andrews, of Townend Farm, who said: "We didn't know what to expect, but he was a very nice hands-on person."

Mr Berry agreed: "He was one of the chaps, someone you'd go to the pub with."

Mr Stein was so impressed with hop asparagus that he placed an order for several thousand pounds worth for his restaurant in Padstow.

The film crew was particularly interested in how hops are grown and farm worker Ron Smith demonstrated the art of stringing them up using twine and wirework.

It is not Mr Stein's first visit to the area. In 2001, he tucked into sausages while filming at Malvern Country Meals and has previously visited Ceci Paolo in Ledbury to give a cookery demonstration.