When Ilkley allotment owner Bev Smith bought a sad-looking pumpkin plant for just £1 from Morrisons in Skipton she didn’t expect too much.

The 41-year-old planted it out at her Bradford Council allotment in Dansk Way, Leeds Road, Ilkley, in June, and then looked after it with regular watering and cutting back.

Now four months later her fellow allotment holders are marvelling at the monster she has managed to grow. Bev, who has tendered her Ilkley allotment for six years, with the help of her friends Paul Riley, 50, and Richard Pearce, 40, both of Ilkley, said: “I am very proud of it. One neighbouring gardener said it is the largest pumpkin he has seen grown on the allotments in 25 years. It weighs in at 125lbs. It was a tiny little plant when I bought it from Morrisons – it was on its last legs.

“I bought two and planted them both but one just disintegrated. “I had to keep cutting the other one back because it was taking over everything. Now it is so big we can’t even lift it.”