GIANT vegetable growers from all over the UK – that’s people who grow very large vegetables, not 10ft tall gardeners – are gathering at Malvern Autumn Show this weekend for one of the highlights of their year.

The two-day event on the Three Counties Showground attracts the cognoscenti of the vegetable growing world, who all hope their produce will be the biggest, longest or heaviest.

“The growing of ‘ultimate’ vegetables is an art form all of its own,” said show spokesman Sharon Gilbert.

“One year we needed forklift truck to transport a huge pumpkin from its trailer to the show bench. I don’t think there is anything quite that large this time, but I never cease to be amazed how big some of the exhibits are. Three-foot long cucumbers, 30-inch runner beans and marrows weighing more than 100lbs are nothing out of the ordinary.”

The annual autumn show began back in 1986 as a celebration of the year’s harvest, but it has expanded to become a day out for all the family, this year featuring everything from circus acts to stick carving, a gundog team challenge to the best of regional food and drink.

At its heart is a stunning Royal Horticultural Society flower show and a Good Life Pavilion with celebrity talks, cookery demonstrations and advice for gardeners and smallholders.

There is also the Midlands Vegetable Society Championships, a rural skills marquee, hound parades, working horse demonstrations and floral art displays among the host of attractions.

As an end of season event, many of the hundreds of trade stands will be offering clearance bargains and among the 60,000 visitors the show is expected to attract before the gates close at 6pm tomorrow night will be those looking to buy early Christmas presents. But perhaps not an apple or giant onion.