Pumpkin named Bagheera breaks world record

A pumpkin grower has set a new world record after producing a giant squash.

Ian Paton, from Lymington, Hampshire, entered his exceptionally large specimen into a giant vegetable weigh-off near Reading in Berkshire.

It weighed 2,856.8lbs (1,295.8kg), has circumference of over 20ft (6m) and was officially confirmed by Guinness World Records judge, Sebastian Suski.

Paton said growing the pumpkin named Bagheera, tending to it for up to six hours and providing about 130 gallons of water daily, had been "bloody hard work". It was the first time the 65-year-old, who has grown giant pumpkins with his twin brother Stuart for over 50 years, had entered the competition on his own.

The pumpkin is now on show at Sunnyfields farm near Southampton, where it will be displayed for the next few weeks.

The farm has used more than 10,000 pumpkins and squashes to create a giant pumpkin mural of Sir David Attenborough.

Paton said the pumpkin would later be used as feed for cows.