A FATHER and son will be taking their talents further afield when their crop of mushrooms is shown on prime time television.

Dick Hickton and his son Jonathan, who are the largest Shiitake mushroom growers in the country.

But it was the history of their Hallow home, Thorngrove Estate, that first attracted the attention of Carlton Television for the programme Heart of the Country.

"Napoleon's brother bought this house around 1814 and lived in it, that is why we were approached at first," said Dick.

"Then the focus of the programme went onto the Shiitake mushrooms."

Shiitake is translated in Japanese as fruit of the oak, and the mushrooms grow on the decaying wood of oak trees.

The father and son first had the idea of farming Shiitake mushrooms when they were in Florida and paid $18 for a pound of them.

"There are people who shift 20 to 30 kilograms of Shiitake mushrooms a week and these are hobby farmers," said Jonathan.

"But we are the only people in the country to shift them on this scale of 1,600 kilograms a week."

n Heart of the Country can be seen on Central at 7.30pm.