The great Wimbledon strawberry run is under way - with 400 Kent pickers working from dawn to provide three tonnes a day for tennis fans.

Every strawberry eaten at the All England Club is picked on 200 acres of strawberry fields at Hugh Lowe Farms, Mereworth, near Maidstone.

The farm, started in 1893, has had the exclusive contract to supply the refreshing Elsanta berries to Wimbledon caterers FMC for 15 years.

Tennis watchers pay £2.25 for a polystyrene tub of around ten of the strawberries, complete with a free dollop of cream.

But lucky locals who have popped into the farm for a pick-your-own session have been paying just £1.50 for a whole 500g punnet.

Owner Marion Regan said: "The weather this week has been pretty good, which means strawberries are ripening quickly, so we are really getting on with it, picking and packing on the same day.

"Everyone gathers in the yard at about 5.15am, so they can be picking at 5.30.

"The teams are trying to get the fruit into the chiller as soon as it is picked as it is sunny and we want to get the "field heat" out of the strawberries as quickly as possible, so they are as fresh as they can be.

The fruit is picked up later afternoon and taken to Wimbledon, where it is on sale the following morning.