New Forest growers set to lift record-breaking pumpkin

Specialist lifting equipment has been drafted in to move a potentially record-breaking pumpkin.

The monster squash weighs in at 120 stone (762kg) and has a circumference of about 17ft (5.18m).

Twins Ian and Stuart Paton, who already hold the British record, grew it at their nursery in the New Forest, Hampshire.

The brothers said their success was due to "50% genetics and 50% love and care".

Stuart Paton, who has grown pumpkins since he was a child, said: "It will definitely be the biggest one we've every grown."

Annual festival

Although lifting it could reveal potentially disastrous mouse damage or decay, the brothers remain confident of "coming close to the world record".

The pumpkin has grown about 35lb (15.9kg) per day in weight over six weeks.

The plant's foliage covers 600 sq ft (55.741 sq m).

The twins have already entered the British record books after they grew a pumpkin weighing a mammoth 1457lb (660 kg).

The pumpkin will be moved in time for the annual pumpkin festival at Netley, near Southampton on Saturday.

The world's largest pumpkin was grown in 2009 by Nick and Christy Harpy from Ohio, USA, and weighed 1,725lb (782kg).