Pumpkin Patch Trail at Gordale Garden & Home Centre

This one is a trail rather than a field. Children are handed a trail sheet and sent round the centre to find the Halloween characters, each of whom is hiding a secret letter. Crack the code from the letters you collect and you are granted access to the Pumpkin Patch to choose a favourite pumpkin to take home.

It costs £5 per child and that single price covers both the trail sheet and the pumpkin, so there is no separate bill waiting at the end. Nothing needs booking; the centre asks you simply to come along during the fortnight it runs.

Because it takes place at an award-winning, family-owned garden and home centre set in landscaped grounds rather than out in a working field, this is a good option for families who would rather not deal with mud, and for anyone whose group includes a wheelchair or a pushchair. The store is fully accessible, with disabled parking spaces, a lift to the upper level, disabled toilets and specially designed trolleys, and wheelchairs can be borrowed on request.

There is a coffee shop on site serving homemade food, though dogs are not allowed in there or in the food hall. Dogs are welcome elsewhere, indoors and outdoors, as long as they travel in one of the centre's trolleys. Car parking is free, with room for more than five hundred cars.