A HERD of cows at a Stoke Climsland farm are currently starring in a new TV advertising campaign, aimed at hitting nationwide audiences of more than 40 million.

The South Devon cattle were owned by David Jasper of Northdown Farm, and they feature in the new adverts for Ginsters, as part of the company's Real Honest Food campaign.

With its slogan 'keeping a close eye on quality', the advert features a pantomime cow lurking among its real counterparts in a field. A man hides in a fake tree using a telescope to watch over a crop of Cornish potatoes, while the narrator of the advert advises viewers that Ginsters source local ingredients for their products, so they can keep a close eye on quality. Other examples of observation in disguise follow, and the conclusion is reached that Ginsters food is 'real honest food'.

David Jasper said: 'I do a lot of business with Ginsters and they know my farm is only a few miles away.

'About 40 of these people came down with a director and they were here from lunchtime until about 9 at night — what it must have cost them, I don't know.

'Basically they had these two blokes in a pantomime outfit in with the bullocks — luckily my bullocks are fairly quiet, otherwise we could have had all sorts of capers, but it all went very well.'

On air now until November 13, the Ginsters advert will appear in peak time TV slots across the autumn.

Larry File, brand communications manager for Ginsters, said:'Our TV presence showcases the locally sourced ingredients that make our products so special.

'The record breaking numbers we continue to achieve in market share are evidence of the fantastic response we've had from consumers to our quality local ingredients message.'

Mr File said Ginsters invested more than £10million a year in local ingredients, so it was 'very important' that this was a key aspect of the company's advertising campaign.