A GIANT apple grown in a Suffolk garden has been pipped at the post in its bid to enter the record books.Geoff and Janet Corston, from Framlingham Road in Kettleburgh, were hoping they had found the largest apple in the country when they picked the fruit earlier this week.

A GIANT apple grown in a Suffolk garden has been pipped at the post in its bid to enter the record books.

Geoff and Janet Corston, from Framlingham Road in Kettleburgh, were hoping they had found the largest apple in the country when they picked the fruit earlier this week.

The Bramley apple, which is a variety mostly used in cooking, weighs in at an impressive 1.12 kg, approximately 2.5lbs, and measures 48cm in circumference.

However the current world record is held by Alan Smith, of Loddington Farm, Linton, Kent, who grew an apple weighing 1.67 kg, 3.11lbs, in October 1997.

"We weren't really expecting to beat the record, but it's quite a good effort," Mr Corston said.

"We would be interested to see if it's the largest apple in Suffolk though and whether any East Anglian Daily Times readers can do any better.

"We didn't do anything special with the tree, it's just an ordinary one from the garden. We might have fed it a bit extra this year but I really don't know.

"It just happened to grow rather large, I'm not sure why. We've had the tree for years and it always supplies reasonable apples, it's amazing how big some get.

"I saw it hanging on the tree the other day and thought I better take it off because I didn't want it to fall to the ground and bruise," he added.

Despite its award winning potential Mr and Mrs Corston, whose son Jamie, 6, attends Easton Primary School, have no intention of entering it into any competitions.

"I guess we'll keep it for a while to show it off to a few friends, but I don't think we'll enter it in any local contests. It's not really something you can keep, is it," Mr Corston said.

"At the end of the day the test of a good apple is what it's like inside not how large it is. It feels quite juicy, we'll just have to wait and see.

"It'll certainly keep us well stocked up with apple pies!"