A STUNNING scheme to raise public interest in watercress has been launched in Hamp-shire with the help of an unusual mascot.

Page three stunner Jo Guest, pictured below, has agreed to front the campaign, called cheekily "Not Just a Bit on the Side", in a bid to get more people eating their greens.

To get the campaign up and running, glamour girl Miss Guest will be stripping naked and lying in a field full of the salad leaves near Alresford today.

The scheme has been put together by Hampshire and Dorset watercress farmers society with the intention of getting people to see the leaf as more than just a garnish.

Miss Guest's photo shoot coincides with the launch of National Watercress Week as well as the start of the British watercress season.

However, in order to prevent goose bumps, the organisers of today's shoot have agreed to empty the beds of the cold spring water used to grow the leaves, before Miss Guest, 31, has to get in and lie down.

Watercress was one of the first plants to be cultivated by farmers in this country thousands of years ago and is reputed to have healing qualities.

Researchers battling to find a cure for cancer also think the innocuous little salad plant could prove to have invaluable properties in the fight against the disease.

The organisers of the campaign are hoping Miss Guest's provocative posing will be an asset to the watercress market and shoot it up the salad popularity stakes.

A spokesman for Hampshire Watercress Farmers said: "We wanted people to take a fresh look at Watercress, and what better way to do it than to get someone like Jo Guest involved.

"It's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek campaign, but there's an important message in it as well, namely that watercress is extremely good for you, and is not just something that should be left on the side of your plate."