GREENFINGERED Mark Rand has grown what he believes is Britain’s biggest outdoor pumpkin, this year.

Mark Rand, 48, has spent months growing the huge vegetable, which he has calculated weighs 700lbs (50st) .

It has a circumference of 11.6ft (3.5 metres) and takes eight people to move it.

H e planted the seed in April and has been down to the allotment in the Willows, Mersea Road, Colchester, almost every day since.

See Wednesday's Gazette for more