Pots form base for expansion

The company, which Mr Nicholls joined two and a half years ago from the Yorkshire Flowerpot Company, has expanded its clay pot collection and will showcase its new range next Saturday at a spring sale at its headquarters in Alne, near York.

Six of the pots on display will form part of a special Yorkshire garden at the Chelsea Flower Show next month.

The rhubarb "forcers" will feature in the Welcome to Yorkshire garden where they will nurture Yorkshire rhubarb, which has now got the seal of approval from the European Union, joining champagne on the European Union's Protected Designation of Origin list of finest foods.

Guy Armitage, operations director, said: "The rhubarb forcers should prove especially popular, particularly in the wake of the EU ruling.

"Yorkshire rhubarb grown in the 'rhubarb' triangle between Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds is now officially the best.

"The stems are grown in the dark in large sheds and picked by candlelight.

"It is said they grow so fast you can hear the snap and the pop of their buds opening."