Slow food is winner at snail farm

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A woman from Kent has turned her spare bedroom into a snail farm and is supplying restaurants with the delicacy more usually produced in France.

Helen Howard, from Littlebourne, Canterbury spotted a gap in the market for locally-produced food after her daughter attended agricultural college.

"I found the idea on a website on farm diversification," she said.

"I thought it would be good to be able to offer people who like local food something a bit different."

Ms Howard knows of only two other snail farms in England today, though they have a long history.

"Snails have been farmed in Britain for centuries and there is lots of archaeological evidence to back that up," she said.

"In the monasteries the monks would have a fish pond, beehives and a snail farm.

"And there are lots of placed in Kent where there is evidence the Romans farmed snails."

She keeps 2,000 breeding snails in her terraced home and so far, demand from restaurants outstrips supply.

The snails are a subspecies of the garden snail, and grow faster

The snails are fed on a dried food which includes dried milk, and chalk to make their shells strong.

"We have become really quite attached to them," said Ms Howard.

"They are quite endearing - they don't bite, or smell unpleasant or make a lot of noise and they are really quite friendly.

"And they don't take up much space, which is a really good benefit."

Chef Mark Rossi serves the snails with a garlic sauce at his restaurant in Canterbury.

"They are very successful," he said.

"People really buy into local foods - it is part of our ethos to source as much local produce as possible and people love it."