Going against prevailing wisdom, we're planting Kent's first commercial olive grove. Our ambition is to produce single estate extra virgin olive oil in the UK.

By the time we fill our first bottle of English olive oil - and assuming we're successful - we are likely to be one of only a very small handful of farms producing olive oil commercially in Britain.

There are very good reasons why you don't come across olive groves in the UK. Compared to traditional olive growing regions our northern latitude, long cold winters and relatively short, often wet summers are seen as the antithesis of olive growing territory.

Yet, our area of Kent is one of the warmest and driest parts of Britain. When we combine that with the anticipated rise in temperatures from global warming, we think commercially grown olives might just have a fighting chance of success at Huggit's Farm.