STROUDCO is a new community food enterprise which offers an ingenious way of making the most of allotment and garden fruit and vegetable surpluses.

For keen growers who have a mountain of marrows or a ton of tomatoes, Stroudco offers a new way to sell on extra produce.

Anyone can offer their produce online for Stroudco members to buy, alongside food from Gloucestershire farms.

Suppliers set their own prices and Stroudco can accept very small quantities.

So for those with a bumper crop of plums or apples with just a few bags extra, this new project provides the answer.

Stroudco also accepts home-made chutneys, jam and preserves.

One member, Jade Bashford, said: ''This is great for Stroud - some of the best quality fruit and veg is homegrown.

"We are starting to get some unusual and very fresh items that we cannot buy anywhere else.

"We would love people to bring in their figs, local damson varieties, favourite greengages and gluts of apples and other produce.''

The call to fund a home for surplus produce in Stroud was initiated after fruit was seen rotting on trees, while at the same time supermarkets were selling imported and expensive fruit.

The scheme already offers meat, milk, cream, beer, bread, cheeses, cakes and butter.

Consumers order food online and collect it from Parliament Street Primary School every other Saturday. Home delivery is also available.

Membership costs £2 (£1 for low-income households) per household per month, which includes invitations to free events on Stroudco producers’ farms.

To join or for more information visit www.stroudco.org.uk or call Lynsey on 0845 3306340.