Gardener, 8, sells fruit and veg on honesty stall

An eight-year-old boy is helping villagers eat more healthily by using an honesty stall to sell them fruit and vegetables he has grown in his garden.

Jesse is leaving his excess runner beans, sweetcorn and peppers outside his home in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire - and is asking neighbours to leave money for what they take

"We trust everybody, and they just post the money through the post box," Jesse said.

"Sometimes they leave it under the table, sometimes they put it round the back, but they do pay."

Jesse said he was using the money he made to buy gardening supplies, but said his ultimate aim was to be able to afford a bigger garden.

"I love gardening a lot," said Jesse.

"Just harvesting and planting things in the ground like the seeds and then just watching it grow and then getting something bigger out of it."

Jesse's mother Amanda said: "The community's been amazing, we have people come not just from Broughton, we see people pulling up in their cars, they'll come over, I think because he's so small and cute.

"They're very supportive of him, but people come over now, they bring us their empty plant pots.

"People are just loving seeing a little person doing a bit of gardening I think."

Jesse, who said raspberries were his favourite thing to grow, started the honesty stall after seeing the idea on YouTube and said he hoped his efforts would encourage other people to take up the pastime.

"It's easy, just try," he said. "Most of the time it's simple."

Additional reporting by Dan Martin

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