Construction has begun on the Vegetable Kingdom, a new visitor attraction due to open in May 2003 at Ryton Organic Gardens in Coventry.

The £1.7m project, which received £939,000 in funding from the Heritage lottery fund and a further £351,000 from the European Regional Development Fund, is a permanent exhibition designed by Rugby-based HB Architects.

The attraction will tell the history of vegetables in the UK, covering not just the varieties of vegetable grown in and now lost to in this country, but historical events such as the Irish potato famine and the Second World War Dig for Victory Campaign.

The Vegetable Kingdom in the brainchild of executive director Jackie Gear: 'Visitors will be able to see, touch, smell and taste vegetables in a new way as we use graphics, models and interactive technology in a light hearted way as well as on a serious academic and scientific level to tell all there is to know about vegetables.

Three new outdoor gardens - Vegetable Inspirations, The Vegetable Way and the Children's Garden - will complement the exhibition.

The Vegetable Kingdom will also house new offices and laboratories for the Heritage Seed Library, a collection of 800 rare and unusual vegetable varieties, where visitors can see the HSL staff at work.

HB Architects have designed the building to form a gentle curve which 'hugs the landscape' and has a 'living roof' - planted with leeks. Inside, structural supports will be formed to look like vegetables to give the impression of a 'fantasy garden'. Details: +44 (0)24 7630 3517