MANY people would be quick to associate the nettle with a nasty sting and not much else but a festival celebrating the plant aimed to change those misconceptions.

Nettlefest was held at Barracks Lane Community Garden in East Oxford on Saturday and celebrated the different uses of nettles.

Volunteers showed how it can be used to make soup, tea and rope and visitors were able to discover why nettle patches were good for wildlife.

Nettlefest was combined with the community garden's annual seed swap, which gave people the chance to share seeds and get tips on growing them.

Flow Stone from St Albans in Hertfordshire brought along a loom and some of the different materials which can be made from nettles.

She said: "People who came along were really interested and some people had a go at spinning the fibres themselves.

"I do a lot of things with historical textiles and came along to demonstrated how to make thread from all kinds of different plants.

"It was mostly nettles but I also had hemp and flax."