'My squash is so big, I need help to move it'

Lee Herrington described his giant squash as being like his child

"It's incredible. Every time I go down there it looks a bit bigger, I'm sure it's got a heartbeat," he said.

The words of West Midlands competitive vegetable grower Lee Herrington, who has nurtured the biggest squash of his life and wants help, as he has no means of moving it.

Mr Herrington, from Stourbridge, has been competing at the Malvern Autumn Show for 10 years, but even he admits his latest creation is a surprise.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM, he suggested a military aircraft would be needed to move it, but failing that has appealed for the assistance of "some kind of farming machinery".

The mutant squash is currently at Mr Herrington's allotment in Leys, near Stourbridge, leaving him needing to move the vegetable about 30 miles (48km) before the show starts on 26 September.

Mr Herrington said the plant has grown to 1,416 lbs (642kg), which he said would be the equivalent of a "baby elephant".

'Bigger than a builder's bag'

Even so, he said: "It's taken me by surprise because I was expecting something half decent and normally I would deal with it by rolling it into something like a builder's bag and then getting some hefty lads round.

"But it's bigger than a builder's bag now and it wouldn't fit in there, and there's no way you'd be able to pick it up.

"So really what I'm requesting, if anyone can help, is a Chinook helicopter, really.

"But failing that, I honestly think I'm going to need some kind of farming machinery of some description."

Having "nurtured and looked after it", he says "it kind of is my child".

"So, if anybody can help me to [move it], that would be a big help," he added.