The Secret Pumpkin Patch at Seven Sisters Ice Cream Farm

Hidden away in a corner of the farm's corn field, the Secret Pumpkin Patch gives the walk in a little theatre before you reach any pumpkins. It is a daytime event only, so there is no lantern-lit evening version; what you get is a field, a walk through the maize and as long as you like to spend choosing.

Entry costs nothing and there is nothing to book, so you can decide on the morning and still go. Pumpkins are priced individually from £1 up to £15 depending on what you carry away, and payment for them is in cash, which is worth knowing before you arrive with only a card in your pocket.

The site is an ice cream farm for the rest of the year, so the refreshments are a step up from the usual field-side van. Seasonal ice creams and pumpkin spice lattes are served through the season, and a barbecue runs on Saturdays and Sundays for anyone who wants something more substantial.

Dogs are welcome as long as they stay on a lead. The dates run across weekends from early October with two extra Fridays added mid-month, then daily through half term into the start of November, and Saturdays run later from the middle of the month onwards. One to two hours covers the patch comfortably.