Man grows huge pumpkin on allotment for Halloween

Ben Rayner planted the seeds for the pumpkin in March

People visiting a pumpkin patch can guess the weight of a huge pumpkin, grown by a man on his allotment.

Ben Rayner from Highbridge in Somerset has grown a pumpkin that is about three feet tall and the size of a wooden pallet in diameter.

Westcroft Farm in Berrow has displayed the pumpkin and is letting people guess its weight for a prize that is yet to be confirmed.

Mr Rayner said: "The farm will have the flesh of the pumpkin for their animals and the seeds I will keep back and give away to people around the area to encourage more of this."

The pumpkin is about three feet tall

Mr Rayner said added that he was part of a community of giant vegetable growers, in a story first reported by Burnham-on-Sea.com.

"Everyone swaps seeds but it's not something you'd see in your local garden centre," he explained.

"I've done giant onions and giant tomatoes before."

He said being on the Somerset Levels, he has enough water to grow big vegetables.

"There's a lot of feeding and tending to it, making sure there's no weeds involved but to be honest, they would look after themselves if you left them to it," Mr Rayner said.

"Our allotments at Forge Rhyne Allotments are all organic, so we feed them horse manure and seaweed, things like that."

Mr Rayner planted the pumpkin in March, and only just harvested it.

He was going to give it away to a children's cancer charity in Dorset, but their Halloween party was cancelled.

Instead, he gave it to Westcroft Farm, which said there had been "a lot of interest" in the pumpkin.