Shoppers in Kent are getting their first taste of vegetables to be grown inside Britain’s biggest greenhouse complex.

Cucumbers produced at Thanet Earth, a hi-tech development spanning an area of land equivalent to 25 football pitches, have gone on sale at Tesco Extra in Broadstairs.

The cucumbers, priced at £1.28 each, are the first to be picked at the £80 million centre near Birchington.

They are grown inside giant eco-friendly greenhouses that require very little electricity to operate.

So much energy is produced on site that almost all of it is exported to the National Grid and carbon dioxide and heat, the by-products of the power generation process, are pumped into the greenhouses to help the plants grow.

Thanet Earth will open all year round and is expected to boost UK salad crop production by up to 15 per cent.

Tomatoes and peppers are due to hit supermarket shelves later this year.