Pumpkin Picking – Our Halloween Tradition

It’s almost Halloween which means our annual trip to go pumpkin picking. It has accidentally become a tradition over the last 4 years, and there’s no way we’d be allowed to just buy one from the supermarket now! Luckily we live not too far away from the fab Cat & Fiddle farm at the edge of the New Forest and we always head there a couple of weeks before Halloween.

The farm grows nearly 20 different types of fruit and vegetables and though we always mean to go in the summer to get strawberries we never seem to get around to it.

Pumpkin picking

When we arrived we grabbed a wheelbarrow and headed towards the pumpkin patch. I’m not sure who had more fun with the wheelbarrow, Little H riding in it or the husband pushing her around fast!

You need to have a really good hunt around for the perfect pumpkin, some are a bit squashed, a funny shape, or still too green. There are loads to choose from though, and of course plenty of photo opportunities…

There are all shapes and sizes. Some of the pumpkins are massive, they reminded us of the one made into a carriage in Cinderella, and very very heavy!

We found some good ones and Little H did a great job of loading them into our wheelbarrow.

Once we’d found out pumpkins (including a tiny one that Little H wants to keep as a pet!) we headed back to get them weighed. Along the way, there was plenty of space to for a few cartwheels.

Our 4 pumpkins came to £9, more expensive than getting them from the supermarket, but so much more fun! There’s also a little cafe to grab a coffee, plus haybales and a tractor for the kids to climb on. If you want a pumpkin fresh from the farm but can’t be bothered to pick it yourself, there’s also some ready picked ones by the shop.

We had a great afternoon picking our pumpkins, and are now planning what to carve into them. Keep an eye on my Instagram for those photos!

Have you been pumpkin picking with your kids, or do you prefer to get them from the supermarket?