A Million For Your Turnips!

A gardener in cash-rich Vodafone's home town has turned down an amazing £1 million for his fruit and veg plot.

He's got less than an acre of land,filled with space for runner beans,spuds and radishes.

But he has said he does not want to sell despite the amazing offer from a local property developer.

It's a deal which could have come straight out of the textbook of Vodafone chief Chris Gent,the man who recently won his takeover battle with German phone giant Mannesmann.

Vodafone grew up in the rural market town of Newbury,Berks,and are planning to build their new world headquarters in open fields overlooking the bypass.

The £1 million was offered as a carrot to the gardener by a developer hoping to cash in on Newbury's housing boom.

Prices of homes in the area have shot through the roof largely thanks to Vodafone,who can afford to pay whopping salaries to lure the best staff.

Because of their huge wages,they can outbid most other people for homes they like - and it's pushed up house prices across West Berkshire.

Developers are desperately hunting new sites where they can build homes.

The Newbury-based estate agents handling the offer for the fruit and veg plot said it showed the terrific demand for property in Newbury.

Spokeswoman Mette Jensen said the land was part of a larger garden belonging to a house in the Newbury area.

She declined to give the exact location of the land,or details of the buyer,but said the owner had been approached with the offer.

"It is completely genuine.We thought ourselves it was fairly amazing but there is a huge demand for land at the moment.

"There is no land for development,so people are paying extraordinary prices."

A 0.9 acre piece of land in the town centre was recently sold for £1.3 million to David Wilson Homes,for 46 new flats.