Pumpkin Picking at Clearwell Farm

Twenty-seven varieties and around 60,000 pumpkins, all grown on the farm, is a serious amount of choice for one site. The festival opens on Friday 2 October and runs through to Saturday 31 October, and there is a Pumpkin Village to walk through as well as the picking rows themselves.

Two quite different visits are on offer. Daytime picking runs 10am to 5pm on selected dates, taking in every weekend in October and then daily from 26 to 31 October. Twilight picking runs 6pm to 10.30pm on selected Fridays and Saturdays, and then nightly across half term, with live music playing.

Around the picking there is line dancing and carnival games, and the street food line-up is substantial: Mar Y Fuego, Keralan Karavan, Lillie's Coffee, MiniYakis and Maple Crepe all trade on site, and cocktails are served. Tickets are booked in advance through the farm's own website.

The same farm runs a sunflower patch and maize maze in summer and a pick-your-own Christmas tree experience in December, so October is one stop in a longer calendar. A separate after-dark scare event, The Harvest of Horror, also runs here during October; it is a different thing from the family festival and is booked on its own.