Pumpkin Picking at Wheelock Hall Farm

The pricing here works the other way round from most places: children pay the larger share and adults get in for a few pounds. That is because the ticket is not really a pumpkin patch ticket at all. It covers the whole farm, so the patch is one part of the day rather than the whole of it.

Three large play areas and an indoor soft play barn are included, which matters enormously in late October when the weather turns. The farm animals come with the same ticket, so if the children lose interest in choosing a pumpkin after ten minutes, there is somewhere else for them to go.

Pumpkins themselves are charged separately and priced by size, so the final cost of the visit depends a good deal on how ambitious your children are once they reach the field. There is no need to book anything; you come along on the day and pay at the gate.

It runs every day from early October to the end of the month rather than weekends only, which makes it one of the easier patches to fit around work and school. There is a farm shop on the same site, and two to three hours is a realistic visit once the play areas are in the mix.