Pumpkin Picking at Old Hall Southwold

The farm behind the Southwold Maize Maze gives its fields over to pumpkins once the maze season has finished, and the patch uses the same site at Reydon on the Halesworth Road just outside the town. A large selection is grown in a range of shapes and sizes, so picking is a matter of choosing rather than taking what is left.

The season comes in two halves. From 10 October the patch opens at weekends for pick your own pumpkins on their own. From 24 to 31 October the full experience opens daily, and that is when the rest of it appears.

That final week brings a Trick or Treat trail through the Play Park, a Find the Golden Pumpkin game across the site and pumpkin carving in the Big Barn. If you are bringing children who will want more than a field, the last week is the one to aim for; the earlier weekends are the quieter option if a pumpkin is all you are after.

Old Hall Café is on the farm, so there is somewhere to sit down without leaving the site, and Southwold itself is only just up the road, which makes it easy to fold a pumpkin trip into a day at the coast.

One practical warning. The farm has not published opening hours for the pumpkin patch, and the times shown against the dates in its online calendar are a quirk of the booking system rather than real visiting hours. No prices are published either, so check both before you set out.