The garden shed may be home to sought after antique tools

16:02:20 3rd February 2010

For many people tools are simply used and then stored in the garden shed without a second thought, but the humble spade or trowel are now being collected as antiques.

The Times reports that tools dating as far back as the 17th century are being sought after and collected by Cornwall resident Mike Sagan, who has founded the National Museum of Gardening.

Similarly, London vet Trevor Farrell also collects antique tools and has in his possession over 2,000.

He told the news provider: "For me it's an aesthetic thing as much as historical, the patina that comes from generations of use, the work ethic."

Mr Farrell's tools include glass cucumber straighteners, berry pickers, specialist spades for cutting asparagus and horseradish, and a fern trowel complete with leather holster, the Times reports.

Meanwhile, people with old or broken tools are being asked to contribute them as part of a garden tools 'amnesty'.

The scheme is in aid of the Conservation Foundation's Tools Shed programme which gives tools, repaired in a number of UK prisons, to school and community gardens.