Pumpkin Picking at Rougham

Free admission, free parking and no booking form is a rare combination in late October, and it is what Rougham Estate offers on its sunflower and pumpkin field just outside Bury St Edmunds. You turn up, take one of the wheelbarrows provided and walk out into the crop.

The pumpkins are sold by size rather than at one flat rate, running from small gourds up to large carving pumpkins, with white varieties among the orange. Around the picking there are pony rides, pedal tractors, hay bales, sandpits and games, so younger children have somewhere to burn off energy while an older sibling hunts for the perfect specimen.

Two evenings are given over to Pumpkins by Torchlight, when the field opens after dark for a silent disco and torch-lit picking on Saturday 17 and Saturday 24 October. On two weekday mornings in half term the farm also runs a free SEN-friendly hour before general opening, which needs a free ticket to attend.

Food traders rotate through the field, with burritos, burgers, bakes and coffee among them, and there is a picnic area if you would rather bring your own. Toilets, an accessible toilet and baby changing are on site. Dogs on short leads are welcome in the picnic area and in a separate doggy pumpkin patch, but not in the main field, so think about where yours will go before you set off.