TWO eco-conscious schools are displaying home grown produce at their harvest festival for the first time - thanks to allotments gifted to them by a generous landowner.

TWO eco-conscious schools are displaying home grown produce at their harvest festival for the first time - thanks to allotments gifted to them by a generous landowner.

Drake's Church of England School, in East Budleigh, and Otterton School will be proudly displaying fruit and vegetables carefully cultivated with their own hands.

Drake's School was given the allotment, at Collins Cross, by Clinton Devon Estates, in April 2007.

Allotment co-ordinator Marguerite Tait: "We have prepared and cooked some of our produce in school and have sold the rest to families at events like our May Day Fair.

"With the money raised this year, we shall buy necessary tools and seeds for next year.

"The children experience the joy of growing their own food, at the same time developing skills of enterprise and co-operation."

The 40 square metre plot of land used by Otterton School given a year ago, also given by Clinton Devon Estates, saw parents, children and local villagers in the spring spend a day digging, building fences and planting hedges.

Each class was assigned part of the allotment and has produced everything from tomatoes, beans and courgettes to potatoes, strawberries and rhubarb.

Teacher Lucy Archer said: "By the beginning of June, we had a crop of broad beans large enough to sell to parents in the playground and we have continued to sell a wide variety of fruit and veg.

"The children have gained a great deal of pleasure from growing and eating the produce and, in June, the allotment was part of the Otterton Gardens Open Day.

"It may not have been as beautiful and tidy as most of the gardens taking part, but we were proud to show off the children's hard work."

Clare James, assistant land agent from Clinton Devon Estates, said: "The estate has, for the last four years, run an education initiative to assist local schools in learning about agriculture and countryside management.

"We are very happy to provide both schools with this opportunity to use an allotment so that they could learn about food production out of the classroom. We are really pleased to hear that their harvests this year have been so abundant.