Pumpkin Picking at Pumpkin Moon Rainham

Pumpkin Moon runs two pick your own farms in Kent, one at Maidstone and this one on Lower Rainham Road just outside Gillingham. Both are built on the same idea: a genuinely huge range of varieties, a very low entry price, and no pressure to rush once you are in.

The draw is the variety rather than the activity list. The field carries well over a hundred different pumpkins, squashes and gourds, from standard orange carvers through to warty, white, blue and flat heirloom types you will not see in a supermarket. You take a wheelbarrow and work your way along the rows, and pumpkins are paid for at the end rather than being included in the ticket.

Entry is deliberately cheap, which is what makes it a realistic annual trip rather than a treat. Weekday entry is £2.75 a head and weekends £3.75, with a family ticket for four at £10 on weekdays and £12 at weekends. Under 2s and carers go free.

Arrivals run in thirty minute slots from 10:00, with the last arrival at 15:30. The slot is for getting in, not for how long you stay, so once you are through the gate you can take as long as you like until gates close at 17:00. Booking is essential and the farm is clear that there is no entrance without one.

It is a straightforward field trip rather than a farm park, so bring wellies after rain and plan to buy your pumpkins on the way out.