VIDEO: Giant 95-stone pumpkin stays afloat in Essex's most bizarre race to date

Matthew Oliver, a horticultural expert at RHS Garden, Hyde Hall, spent seven months growing the £1,250 seed which came from the current world record holder.

The 29-year-old from Rettendon, on Tuesday (November 22) gutted the 95 stone vegetable, before taking it to water in a bizarre finale at the Creephedge Lane nature reserve.

Speaking before the race, which saw him playfully compete against three colleagues also in giant pumpkins, Mr Oliver admitted he will be sad to see the UK recorder holder go to the compost heap.

He said: “I don’t suppose the pumpkins will be very seaworthy, but it’s worth a try, I have no idea how it’s going to.

“I heard about doing this for the first time at a conference in the spring, and I saw a video clip from America, and thought, ‘that looks a bit silly, I’ll give it a go.’

“It will feel a bit strange taking a saw to a whole summer’s worth of work.”

All four super-sized squashes, grown at Hyde Hall, were successfully paddled approximately 150 metres, on the bitter autumn morning.

It took Mr Oliver about an hour to hollow out the buoyant fruit, before a forklift truck took it and the three others to water.

The parent pumpkin was grown in Switzerland in 2014, which still holds the world record.

It weighs 166st.

Mr Oliver’s pumpkin seed, which was bought by Ipswich company Thompson and Morgan, took six days to germinate, before stacking on 30 lbs a day.

Speaking after the race, he said: ““It was really good fun and I was delighted to win the race – I’d have been gutted if I came last.

"The pumpkins made surprisingly good boats and once I’d mastered the technique of doing a slow and steady pace, I edged forward and made it first across the finishing line."