Britain’s scorching heatwaves have enabled a Dorset gardener to grow a bunch of bananas for the first time.

Pam Woodall and her husband Dave nurture six banana plants in the jungle-themed garden they created together beside Poole Harbour.

She never anticipated that any of the plants would produce fruit, believing that the UK climate was not sunny enough.

However, after a summer spent baking in the sunshine, her tallest banana plant, standing at 10ft, bloomed and produced a cluster of small bananas.

Unfortunately, the crop will be inedible as the high temperatures will not last long enough for the fruit to ripen properly.

And in a bittersweet twist, banana plants’ trunks die after they flower and fruit.

The UK is bracing for its fifth heatwave of the summer, with temperatures of 36C or higher expected across England and Wales.

Half of England and all of Wales have been plunged into drought and more regions could be declared when officials meet at the National Drought Group on Monday.

Ms Woodall said that this is the first time in the 13 years since the couple moved in that one of her banana plants has flowered and fruited.

She said: "I did not even wrap up the banana plant to protect it last winter, because it's so tall and very difficult to wrap."

According to the Royal Horticultural Society, banana plants rarely flower or fruit outdoors in the UK as it is not warm enough.

British growers usually keep banana plants solely for their eye-catching foliage.

"It was a bit of a shock. I was walking around the garden and thought 'what's that?'" Ms Woodall said.

"At first all I saw was the flower head of the banana plant and I thought there aren't any bananas in it.

"But later on my husband said 'you didn't look closely enough' because there was a bunch of bananas."

She said that the flower and fruit look "amazing", but she was sad that the bananas would not be edible.

"This is because they will not ripen into the full size as the sunshine will not last long enough.

"When you go to the Caribbean you see the banana plants growing and it takes quite a while to ripen.

"Even sadder news is that once bananas flower and fruit, the trunk will then die, though it should hopefully sprout new ones from the base."

The couple’s garden is a haven for wildlife that attracts bees, badgers, deer, ducks, woodpeckers and rare stag beetles.

The plot is a third of an acre and is divided in two, with tropical plants surrounding lawn at the top and a lush-green bramble-choked 'jungle' in a dell at the bottom.

They won the BBC magazine garden of the year in 2016.

They have now made it into the top three of the publication's 'Best of the Best' gardens. The overall winner will be chosen by a panel of expert judges and revealed in October.

As well as the banana plants, the garden also has several large Agave filifera which have flowered, reaching 20ft tall.