Gillingham is not exactly known for its tropical climate.

The average summer temperature peaks at about 21C and it’s not uncommon to plummet to well below freezing in the winter.

But in a small back yard in the town centre a touch of paradise can be found - a 10-foot banana tree which, for the first time in 14 years, has borne fruit.

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The remarkable achievement is down to green-fingered Byron Richards who was given the plant by a friend who nurtured it from seed at her home at Bexhill-on Sea, East Sussex.

For years it remained in a bucket at the flat he shared with wife Sharon,52, in London.

But when they moved to their home in Canterbury Street five years they decided to take the plunge and expose it to the elements.

Bananas that flourish in the Caribbean and the Canaries can die in temperatures in the late 60s and 70s and frost usually kills leaves.

Mrs Richards, who runs a design business from home, said her husband, a carpenter,51, was a keen gardener.

She said: “He doesn’t seem to do much, just plant seeds. He’s the food grower and I’m into my flowers. We also have an orange tree and advocadoes.”

Video: Sharon and Byron Richards' banana tree has fruited

Expert Fearne Alder, who used to run Full Frontal, the Medway-based environmental project, congratulated Mr Richards on his horticultural feat.

She said: “It must be down to the climate, good cultivation- he must be doing something right. Well done to him.”

But it's not the first time bananas have been grown in Kent's climate. In July this year we reported how Les and Maureen Milton took 11 years to cultivate a crop in their Minster back garden.