The parsley seeds of Cheswardine

Pity the poor souls who edit the Shropshire pages of the BBC website. They are up against the mighty news machine that is the Shropshire Star.

Nevertheless, they do manage the occasional scoop. Try this for size:

A shopkeeper who found a packet of seeds from the 1960s in a drawer said he was amazed when they germinated.

Denis Moore had had the seeds since he moved into the village shop in Cheswardine, Shropshire, 31 years ago.

There's more:

He initially planted the parsley on cotton wool, but nothing happened so he put them in a tray of compost and left them for another three weeks, but still nothing happened.

Mr Moore said: "My paperboy said 'Have you ever heard the saying about parsley seeds, that they go down to the devil and back nine times before they grow'.

"So I gave them another three weeks and they came up."

You see why I like Shropshire. You get village names like Cheswardine. And, while paperboys are supposed to be an endangered species, not only does the county still have them: they come versed in local folklore too.