Most years I take D and E to a pumpkin farm to buy pumpkins for Halloween. Usually we go to an event near Stoneleigh but this year for a change we visited a more local farm - Wood Barn near Solihull. We went in the week when it was quieter! I find these events are to be avoided at weekends and school half term!!!
There were loads of different varieties of pumpkins being sold although sadly I couldn't find a "Turk's Turban" which is a shame as I have a good recipe for Turk's Turban soup!
There was also a Christmas shop which we had a brief look at.
Timothy being brave by a wyvern!
There was a pumpkin field where you could pick your own which D and E promptly did! There were also reindeer in an enclosure but you might know I looked in the wrong area although D and E found them!
The Christmas Shop
Wood Farm also sells real Christmas trees. I felt a bit guilty after reading this as we have a plastic tree although to be fair we have used the same one for years and years. I do have a real tree in a pot outside which we used to put in the porch over the Christmas period but it has been repotted into larger tubs that many times that it is now too heavy to lift!
We bought several pumpkins of various sizes - some to carve and some to cook with. I remember one year I grew pumpkins and the two that formed I named Henry and Humphrey - a bad mistake to give them names as I found I just couldn't carve or eat them! D tried to grow some this year without success - slugs and snails decided they were tasty :(
We stopped off a Marks and Sparks on the way home to buy some Halloween sweets and chocolates and some sandwiches - sadly the doughnut stall at the farm was closed and we were hungry! I've decided Friday afternoons are not a good time to go out - the traffic was awful :(
All photos taken by me or D with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one or mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
2 comments:
Pumpkin Farms are certainly catching on in the UK. I don't know what they are like in America now, which is where I first encountered them as simply vending pumpkins. I seem to think ours have much more to offer by way of additional attractions. I know my friend's pumpkin farm Trefaes Ganol, Moylgrove {Pembrokeshire Pumpkin Farm} offers much in the way of barn activities and trails, and a craft area, as well as peddling pumpkins. I have just been gifted a big bag of pumpkins of many sizes, shapes and colours. It is well worth a look at her web page pembrokeshirepumpkins.co.uk
Sorry you didn't get your Turk's Turban. Did you substitute with something else?
Thanks so much Debbie. I haven't experienced American Pumpkin Farms but one's over here do seem to have many attractions when you visit them. So pleased you have been given a huge bag of various pumpkins and thanks for the link I will have a look.
I will use one of the smaller edible pumpkins that D and E bought to make soup and I've cheated and bought a butternut squash to make the Wizard's Hat pasties for Halloween tea! Sainsbury's used to sell ready prepared pumpkin which saved a lot of time and effort but Morrisons online don't sell it not sure about Tesco!
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