Pumpkin Picking at Algy's Farm Shop & Café

The pumpkins here are grown on the farm itself, in two small fields that sit around the farm shop. That keeps the walk short and the whole thing manageable with small children: you collect a wheelbarrow from the wooded area next to the shop, head out and pick as many as you like.

There is a wide range of sizes, shapes and varieties, from small decorative pumpkins for a windowsill to bigger ones suited to carving. Pumpkins are bought by the pumpkin rather than by the barrow, and the farm does not publish a price list, so expect to settle up on what you have chosen when you come back in.

Because the shop and café share the site, this works well as part of a bigger errand rather than a trip on its own; you can pick pumpkins, do a shop and sit down for something hot in one stop. Catering does not run every day of the season, though, so check the dates below before you build a visit around lunch.

Two practical things before you set off. Wellies or sturdy boots are recommended for the fields, and there is a welly wash by the buildings so you are not carrying mud inside. Dogs are welcome in the pumpkin field as long as they stay on a lead. The patch opens at the end of September and runs through October, and no booking is mentioned, so it is a turn up and pick arrangement.