Pick-your-own in Bedfordshire chilli farm

A Bedfordshire chilli farm hopes to become the first business in the area to allow customers to pick their own vegetables, it has been reported.

Edible Ornamentals, which is based at Cherwood Nursery, was recently awarded a £1,000 grant from Business Link through its Bedfordshire Growth Fund scheme, according to Horticulture Week.

The cash will be used to help with site design and marketing to encourage locals to make use of the service.

"Families will borrow wellies and a wheelbarrow to pick not only chillies but aubergines, peppers, courgettes, sweetcorn and other vegetables from the plant," owner Joanna Plumb explained to the news provider.

The firm stocks over 40 varieties of chillis, including Anaheim and Dorset Naga – some of which are used in Waitroses sauces.

It may encourage visitors to try their hand at growing food in their own greenhouses.

The news comes in the same week it emerged pop star Britney Spears has developed a passion for gardening.

A source told the Sun newspaper the songstress has become passionate and knowledgeable about what she grows.