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by julia.round@finncomms.com / 29.01.10 at 04:17PM

Home grown British produce reaches new heights

British produce is amongst the best in the world. We all know that. We've got some fantastic food and drink to be proud of; Cornish pasties, Scottish Salmon, a variety of cheeses and Melton Mowbray pork pies, to name just a few.

The public is increasingly aware of this, and wants a piece of the action. A good example is that more and more people are growing their own vegetables. Living in a flat myself with no garden to speak of, I have not quite become that green-fingered. I am however trying to cultivate a mini windowsill herb garden with varying degrees of success. Under my wing at the moment is a sprig of coriander and a few wobbly basil leaves, held upright with a cocktail-stick construction.

At the other end of the scale however, British foodies are surpassing themselves with their food and drink successes. Today's Daily Mail told of a lesser known vineyard in West Sussex. Its new sparkling wine to the scene, Nyetimber's Classic Cuvee 2003, beat Bollinger and came out top of the pops at the World Sparkling Wine Championships in Verona.

And on a different farm in the same county, a creative couple have recently revealed their first commercial crop of British olives. Their 180 olive trees have yielded a crop that even the Italians are impressed with.

I can't wait to see what the next entrepreneurial Brit will produce in their back garden. A juicy tropical pineapple? A traditional French brie? Let's throw down the gauntlet and see what we can come up with!