Strawberry Summer
Sybil Ruscoe meets the UK's only Asian strawberry producer, who set up with a few acres and one glasshouse 20 years ago, and now grows 800 tonnes of soft fruit a year.
Makhan Singh Padda was born in Punjab and arrived in the UK as a teenager in 1966, with his family but not much else. Over the next thirty years, he worked in foundries, factories and fields - before buying a few acres near Worcester in 1996 and planting some strawberries. Originally a one-man operation with just one glasshouse, Vicarage Nurseries has now grown to over 200 acres and produces 800 tonnes of fruit a year. Sybil Ruscoe meets the man known locally as "Mr Strawberry" - the only Asian soft fruit supplier in the UK - and finds out about the determination and hard work which lie behind his remarkable success story.
Produced by Emma Campbell.
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- Sun 19 Aug 201806:35BBC Radio 4
