Pumpkin Picking at Westover Farm

Ten acres is a lot of pumpkin field for a small island, and the patch at Calbourne fills it with more than twenty varieties of pumpkins, squashes and gourds. That range is the reason to make the trip. Families who come for one orange carving pumpkin tend to go home with a squash or an odd little gourd as well, simply because they were there in the same rows.

Nothing is charged at the gate. You walk into the field, choose what you want and pay for the pumpkins you pick, which makes this an easy stop to fit around the rest of a day rather than an outing you have to commit to. Scarecrows are set around the patch for photographs, and there is a play area for children who lose interest in choosing once the first pumpkin is found.

A toilet and a refreshment stand on site mean a cold morning among the rows can end with something hot in your hands rather than a drive to find lunch.

Dogs on leads are welcome, which is not true of every pumpkin patch, and there is plenty of parking. The one thing worth sorting before you set off is the Friday morning Playtime sessions, which must be booked in advance rather than turned up to; the patch itself needs no ticket at all.