Pumpkin Picking at The Milton Maze

Rectory Farm sits on the A10 Milton Bypass just north of Cambridge, which makes this one of the easier patches to reach if you are coming out of the city for an afternoon. Pumpkin picking is the main event, with a selfie and photo area set up among the crop.

Entry also covers the Field of Fun activity area, so the ticket is not only for the field itself, and Halloween Spectacular Shows run on site through the event. Street food vans handle lunch.

Booking shapes the visit more here than at some patches. The time you choose is an arrival window rather than a fixed slot, and the booking system tells you that you can stay until 4pm once you are in. Tickets are released in Early Bird batches and the price steps up as each batch sells out, so there is a real saving in booking early, with a 50p booking fee added to each ticket.

Pumpkins are not included in the entry price. You pick what you want and pay for it on the way out, which is worth explaining to children before they fill a barrow. The farm has held both entry and pumpkin prices at last year's rates for this season. Children under 3 go free, the venue says newborns need no ticket at all, and there is a discounted ticket for students, older visitors and disabled visitors with valid identification.