Bedfordshire nursery to operate pick-your-own scheme

Residents in Bedfordshire may be tempted to invest in a greenhouse and take up growing their own food after a trip to a chilli-growing specialist.

Edible Ornamentals aims to become the areas first pick-your-own-vegetables business, according to Horticulture Week.

The company runs Cherwood Nursery and plans to allow visitors to come and pick their own produce.

"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.

Over 40 varieties of chilli are grown at the site, including Anaheim and Dorset Naga.

The business was recently awarded a £1,000 grant from the Bedfordshire Growth Fund, run by Business Link.

It recently emerged that pop star Britney Spears has taken up gardening to help her relax.

The songstress is currently on tour with the Pussycat Dolls, but a source told the Sun newspaper she often tends to her plants as soon as she is home in California.