Britain's longest wisteria vine has exploded into a colourful cascade of mauve and looks 'better than ever' - despite being 32 years old.

The breath-taking bush at Wickham Place Farm in Witham, Essex, reaches 240ft along a giant garden wall and stands at 15ft high.

Proud owner and amateur gardener Judith Wilson, 68, said she spends 60 hours pruning the flowery vine a year and it 'still takes my breath away'.

Mrs Wilson started tending to the Chinese wisteria sinensis in 1993 which replaced ivy found growing on the wall when they moved to the farm.

She said: "The wisteria looks better then ever, more so this superb year with few frosts."

"Everybody without exception is saying what a fabulous year for wisterias because of the sunshine. It has brought them on a treat."

"I look at it and think 'Wow'. It still takes my breath away."

Mrs Wilson has spent years training the vine to grow along the full length of her garden wall but frosts meant the flowers were often killed off.

However in 2013, a delayed spring meant that the whole plant bloomed 13ft high for the first time.

It has continued to grow since, thanks to Mrs Wilson's dedicated care, and now stands at 15ft high - and is believed to be Britain's longest wisteria vine.

Mrs Wilson said: "They are comparatively easy to maintain. "

"You do your major pruning from January to February and then little bit of trimming in July. "

"I learned from experience. "

"If we get frost in April, it will kill every flower on it. It is heart-breaking but there's always next year."

"The long wall takes me 60 hours to prune and retie each year."

Mrs Wilson, who owns five large wisterias, used to open her gardens to the public every Friday to raise money for the local hospice.

However, they closed in 2015 which Mrs Wilson joked 'gave her more time to focus on the garden'.

She added: "I trained the wisteria over the wall and in each direction over a long time."

"Vine sounds too gentle - they are trees. The bases are more than 50cm across."

"They are all probably at their best. The sun over the coming weekend will fade them and cause the flowers to drop."