Pumpkin Picking at Daisy May's Farm

Run entirely by volunteers since 2011, this not-for-profit community farm in the Essex village of Elsenham opens up for its Halloween At The Farm event over October half term. It is a small, hands-on sort of day out rather than a big commercial attraction, and it stays a working farm while the visitors are in.

The animals are the centre of it. Children can meet, feed and handle the farm's stock, collect eggs and have a go at goat milking, and there is a separate petting area with guinea pigs, rabbits, chicks and ducklings. Beyond that there is an adventure playground with swings, sandpits and a ball games pitch, and a woodland corner given over to leaf collecting and den building.

Visits run as timed sessions and tickets have to be booked in advance through the farm's own booking page, so this is not somewhere to turn up on spec. One thing to sort out before you set off: the farm has no card facilities at all, so bring cash for food and anything else you buy on the day.

The Flying Pig Food Hut serves food on site, and there are undercover areas and toilets if the weather turns. There is parking for cars and minibuses. Most families find an hour or two covers the animals, the playground and the woodland without anyone running out of steam.