An Italian pensioner thinks he may have grown the biggest cabbage in Keighley.

Seventy-six-year-old Arturo Vendettouli has been cultivating his own vegetables at Marley allotments in the town for nearly ten years and has managed to grow one of the biggest cabbages his fellow gardeners have ever seen. The plant measures 51 inches from leaf to leaf and promises to yield a “stonking” cabbage when it is ripe.

Mr Vendettouli, who lives in Aireworth Close, has also grown runner beans nearly 20 inches long. He said: “I am very happy with my cabbage, I have been growing it since this time last year.”

Fellow gardener Jack First, who has over 40 years of agricultural experience, said the plants had all developed around a month early due to the weather.

He said: “Thanks to the very hot weather in June, we had warm soil and then a lot of rain and that has done wonders for the plants.

“This area is not famous for its horticulture so to say someone has grown a cabbage this big is pretty good really.”

Mr First works with people from the Cellar Project to grow a variety of fruit and vegetables in the community garden at Marley allotments and is entering a range of items in the West Yorkshire Organic Show held at Shipley College next month.