A taste of spice just got added to the summer, after chilli farmers Shawn and Joanna Plumb opened up their new farm shop in Chawston.

The couple have run a chilli nursery in Blunham since 2001, but that facility was only able to sell wholesale quantities of the plant.
Now members of the public can go and check out the range of more than 30 varieties – and our photographer June Essex was inivted to have a look around.

Mrs Plumb said: "When we first started seven years ago, some
people did not even recognise chillis – they thought they might be funny carrots or something. But in recent years chillis have become so much more popular, and people come in requesting specific types.

"We want our customers to have the whole chilli experience, from seeing how we sow our seeds to appreciating a fully-grown chilli plant.

So they are welcome to come into the greenhouse and pick their own chillis and peppers, everything from the mild, sweet Anaheim to the blistering hot Dorset Naga which is one of the hottest chillis in the world.

My husband and I used to live in Texas by the Mexican border where people eat a lot of chillis and they really are addictive. Now we even take our own out with us when we go out to eat, in case there aren't any there!"

For more information, visit www.edibleornamentals.co.uk/