Record breaking goosberry weighed by judges. (National World via SWNS)
By Jack Fifield & Duncan Atkins
A delighted fruit grower has broken the record for growing the world's biggest gooseberry, heavier than a tennis ball.
Graeme Watson achieved the feat at the historic Egton Bridge Gooseberry Show, which has been going strong for 225 years.
The 65-year-old said he "struggled to sleep" ahead of the event before his yellow gooseberry was verified as a new world record on Tuesday (Aug. 8).
The green-fingered gardener's fruit weighed in at a whopping 36 drams and 21 grains, or 65.5 grams (2.2oz), smashing his own previous record of 64.56 grams.
The average gooseberry typically weighs between 3-6 grams and are generally similar in size to a grape.
Record breaker Graeme Watson with his prize-winning goosberry. (National World via SWNS)
Graeme, of Danby, North Yorks, said: "I was hoping it might be close, but I was surprised when it was nicely over.
“I knew I had a bit of a margin from the last time I did it, so I thought ‘well, it would take a good one to beat me’.
“You never know until the weighing’s over, and so it proved.
"It’s a good feeling, but I must admit to not sleeping particularly well when I knew what I had there.”
Devastated rival Arthur Hall had found a heavier gooseberry, weighing 67 grams, but it fell off the tree four days before the show – meaning it lost weight before the official weigh-in.
The result meant Graeme, who has competed in the show since 1993, beat the other yellow Millennium berry by just three grains, or 0.19 grams, to take the title.
Graeme said he was forced to pick his berries two days before the show as Storm Floris threatened to damage the umbrellas that protect the fruit from the elements.
Graeme, who is also chairman of the event, said: “The show being Tuesday, I daren’t leave them any closer to Monday – there’s only one bush that I actually left and I picked the others.
Record breaking goosberries weighed by judges. (National World via SWNS)
“That was two days before the show. The other gentleman, a Mr Arthur Hall, his heavier gooseberry, which I think was 67 grams when he picked it – mine was 65.95 grams to start with.”
The self-employed gardener credited sunny weather for the fruit’s heft.
He added: “It’s a good year for fruit where we are, and it’s fairly obvious the gooseberries were retaining a decent size four to six weeks ago.
“They were considerably bigger than they have been for a number of years.”
Gooseberries that don’t make the cut are sold to hungry spectators at the show, at a cost of £3 per pound (453 grams).
Graeme said: “People queue up for them and they’re gone within 45 minutes of being available, that’s what happens to the spares.
“When they’re as ripe as this they’re very very sweet, so they’re absolutely delicious straight from the bag.
“When you thin them earlier in the year in the hope the bushes will produce bigger berries, they’re obviously very tart.
"so if you’re making your pies or your crumbles you need a lot of sugar.
“That’s certainly not the case when it gets to show time – they’re very large, very soft and very sweet."
