TWINS who spend hours each day tending to their pumpkins are about to smash the record for the largest one ever grown in Britain.

Stuart and Ian Paton, 56, use 100 gallons of water daily to help their gigantic squashes grow – and they increase in weight by 60lbs a day at their peak.

The brothers are the current UK record holders, with a pumpkin they grew last year weighing in at the biggest – 161 stone (2,254 lbs).

But the pair, from Lymington, believe this year’s biggest will be at least 300lbs heavier than their best when it is weighed at this year’s Autumn Pumpkin Festival, in nearby Netley, on October 14.

Ian said: “This pumpkin should absolutely smash our previous record from last year – which was actually this pumpkin’s mother.

“From planting the seeds to this point, the squash is 110 days old and it will probably be 300lbs bigger than last year’s.

“My brother Stuart and I probably spend around three hours a day tending to pumpkins, using 100 gallons of water each day."