A farm in Faversham is the first in the UK to produce strawberries this year.

As the days draw out and the daffodils appear, spring is well and truly here and our town’s very special harvest has given us a glimmer of the nearing summer months.

S & A Produce in Hernhill has triumphed in the race against hundreds of other farms across the country to become the first to produce truly English strawberries in 2016.

It is the first time in many years that Kent has picked up the title as the start of the crop is usually produced in West Sussex or, like last year, in Wales.

The first punnets arrived in the Faversham Tesco store in Crescent Road last Wednesday.

Tesco strawberry expert Henry Maulik said they had gone on sale four days earlier than last year and it has been made possible by a mild winter, new production techniques and an early flowering variety called fleurette.

Mr Maulik said: “There’s nothing quite so quintessentially English as the taste of sweet, soft and juicy home-grown strawberries to help banish the winter blues.

“We have worked with one of our long-standing growers to replicate the perfect growing conditions of strawberries at the height of the UK season to help customers enjoy Britain’s favourite fruit as early as possible.”

S & A Produce is one of the UK’s biggest glasshouse growers of strawberries.

The traditional British strawberry season runs from May until September, but for the last 15 years it can now last for up to nine months.

Mr Maulik added: “The arrival of the first English strawberries is great news for those yearning for longer, brighter days because it not only signifies the start of the British growing season but also heralds the start of spring.”