A pair of pumpkin lovers have smashed their own record and grown the UK’s biggest pumpkin for the second time. The gourd weighs as much as a Fiat 500.
Twins Ian and Stuart Paton outdid themselves by growing the 2,656lbs (1,205kg) monster squash in time for Halloween. The specimen is 63lbs heavier than the pumpkin they grew in 2020, which weighed in at 2,593lbs.
Unfortunately, the 61-year-old twins missed out on achieving a new world record by just 47lbs. But there’s still hope as the brothers have one 'monster' left in the patch that is due to be weighed next week.
Incredibly the brothers, from Lymington, Hampshire, spend at least six hours a day tending to the record-breaking squash. Photographs of their pumpkin show the scale of its enormity, with Ian's one-year-old twin granddaughters, Polly and Etta, perched on top of it.
Ian and Stuart weighed their giant gourd at Wargrave Nursery, Reading, Berkshire, where they discovered they had achieved a new UK record for growing the largest pumpkin. Each year the pair grow several large pumpkins to give themselves the best chance of claiming the world record.
The world record is currently held by Tuscan farmer Stefano Cutrupi. He set the record in 2021 with a 2,703lbs pumpkin, after 14 years of trying.
This year the twins suffered a last minute setback to their efforts when they lost their biggest pumpkin just a week ago. The brothers were anxious they might miss out on the record after their largest fruit developed a 'pin hole' in its cavity, Ian said.
Ian said: "We're very happy to have beaten our UK record. We've put a lot of work in. This will probably be the biggest pumpkin in the world this year.
"Although we do have another monster that is going to be weighed at the weekend which will be in with a chance of winning the world record. I've got no intention of stopping until the world record is back in the UK."
The twins' other 'monster' will be weighed at Sunnyfields, Totton, Hampshire, next weekend. Ian thinks his other pumpkin will be “right up in the mix” for the world record, but says it is “always difficult to tell” when it comes to weight.
As there are only two pumpkin events in the UK, the brothers often have to drive one out to Europe for official weighing. He added: "My brother's gone out there with a pumpkin to Spain.
"It's been on a pallet on the back of an open trailer. There will have been lots of photos taken I'm sure - it's not very often you see a pumpkin like that. Our competition is all over Europe, all over the world, literally."
The twins' pumpkins guzzle around 300 litres of water a day to achieve their monster size. But despite the drought and hosepipe ban earlier this year, the pumpkins’ growth has not been affected as the pair recycle water from 'run-off lakes' they use whilst watering commercial plants they grow for the likes of Homebase, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
Asked if the brothers bother with 'normal' size pumpkins, Ian joked: "No, go big, or go home."
