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Best pumpkin patches near London for a family day out

By Jen Barton Packer on 16/10/2023

While anyone can grab a pumpkin from the supermarket, nothing beats an actual pick your own pumpkin patch experience.
There are plenty of fabulous farms within an hour-and-a-half's drive of London that offer kids (and their parents) a pick-your-own experience, often with other veg available, as well as cafés, playgrounds, scavenger hunts and even corn mazes.
While tickets a typically cheap (with discounts for bigger family groups), pre-booking is essential.

Best pumpkin patch for filling a whole afternoon: Foxes Farm Produce

The only way is Essex with Foxes Farm Produce, a 40-minute drive away from Stratford, in Basildon (there’s also a location in Colchester). You can pick your own or choose from ready-cut pumpkins, climb on a straw bale sofa, pose for photos with Fergie the tractor and enjoy wheelbarrow rides. Tickets must be pre-booked and start at £4.

WHEN

1 - 29 Oct

WHERE

Foxes Farm Produce, Watch House Farm, Wash Road, Laindon, Basildon, Essex SS15 4ER

Best pumpkin patch for serious spookiness: Tulleys Farm

Best pumpkin patch by day or night: Tulleys Farm

Take your pick from the 150,000 (or thereabouts) pumpkins on offer at Tulleys. In addition to daytime picking, there are PYO pumpkin nights for a spookier evening atmosphere.

WHEN

7 -29 Oct

WHERE

Tulleys Farm, Turners Hill Road, Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 4PE

Best pumpkin patch for Halloween celebrations: Priory Farm

Best pumpkin patch for Halloween fun: Priory Farm

Priory Farm is the place to check out for spooky Halloween antics, with tractor-trailer rides to the pumpkin field and a mystery to solve on the Discovery Walk trail. Or, choose your perfect pumpkin at the Pumpkin Palace.

WHEN

1-30 October

WHERE

Priory Farm, Sandy Lane, South Nutfield, Redhill, Surrey RH1 4EJ

Best pumpkin patch for wheelbarrow fun: Stanhill Farm

Best pumpkin patch for wheelbarrow play: Stanhill Farm

Half an hour’s drive from Peckham, you’ll find 150-acre Stanhill Farm, where you can gather pre-cut pumpkins into your wheelbarrow (and yes, give your toddler rides for half an hour, at least. Start working those arm muscles in preparation now). The Pumpkin Patch is the perfect spot to capture those perfect Instagram-envy snaps every other parent seems to manage, all the time.

WHEN

14-27 October

WHERE

Stanhill Farm, Birchwood Road, Wilmington, Kent DA2 7HD

Best pumpkin patch to hang out with animals: Bocketts

Bocketts isn’t a pumpkin-picking farm per se; it’s a really fabulous farm with animal petting and feeding sessions, pig racing, goat milking, pony rides, tractor rides and an outdoor adventure playground and soft play. No wonder it’s a favourite destination for primary school trips. Head over during Witches and Wizards Week (21 - 29 October), where kids can enjoy reptile hangouts, science and slime shows, a spooky trail and a pumpkin village with hundreds of homegrown pumpkins.

WHEN

From 21 - 29 October

WHERE

Bocketts Farm, Young Street, Fetcham, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 9BS

Best pumpkin patch for little ones: Crockford Bridge Farm

Rather than a typical PYO setup, Crockford Bridge Farm near Weybridge, Surrey, features a US-style pumpkin marketwhere you can choose from a large selection of squashes and pumpkins on display (which means no trekking through acres of land with over-exhausted babes).

WHEN

Pumpkin market open from 17 Oct

WHERE

Crockford Bridge Farm, New Haw Road, Addlestone, near Weybridge, Surrey KT15 2BU

Best weeklong event: Pierson Agriculture at Four Winds Farm

Best pumpkin event: Poundsbridge Farm

This working sheep farm in Tunbridge Wells turns pumpkin extravaganza each October with a week-long PYO pumpkin event (tickets will be pre-sold this year).

WHEN

From 22 - 28 October

WHERE

Poundsbridge Farm, Penshurst Road, Tunbridge Wells. Kent TN3 0LL,

Best with multiple locations: Pumpkin Moon

Pumpkin Moon has locations near Maidstone and Rainham, where you can choose from over 80 types of pumpkin and squash. The Rainham location has a Maize Maze nearby, a 10-acre, pumpkin-shaped maze with sunflowers too.

WHEN

From 14-29 October

WHERE

Pumpkin Moon, Old Chatham Road, Sandling, near Maidstone, Kent ME14 3BE

Best pumpkin patch for pumpkin lovers: Secretts

Best for pumpkin lovers: Secretts

Secretts hosts an annual Pumpkin Week. Dress to impress and remember to post a picture of your spooktacular costumes on social media if you want to take part in the fancy dress competition, and stick around for a warming feast of pumpkin soup, barbecue sausages and more once you've chosen your orange orbs. It's sure to be a fun-filled, pumpkin-tastic event for the kids to enjoy.

WHEN

21 - 29 October

WHERE

Secretts, Hurst Farm, Chapel Lane, Milford, Surrey GU8 8HU

Best in Maidstone: Milebush Farm

With loads of colourful squashes and pumpkins, Milebush PYO in Maidstone is one for those close to Kent. The pumpkin patch opens the first week of October and no booking is required, just turn up. Don't forget to come back in winter for a Christmas tree.

WHEN

1-30 October

WHERE

Milebush Farm, Shingle Barn Lane, West Farleigh, Maidstone, Kent ME15 0PL

Best pumpkin patch for the total experience: Garsons

Best for the total experience: Garsons

A 25-minute drive from Putney or Wimbledon, you’ll find 155 acres of glorious pick-your-own farmland at Garsons, plus a farm shop and garden centre. You can snap up apples, spinach, carrots, beetroots and squash along with the obligatory pumpkins.

WHEN

1 - 31 October

WHERE

Garsons, Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey KT10 8LS

Best pumpkin patches near London for a family day out

Best pumpkin patch for filling a whole afternoon: Foxes Farm Produce

Best pumpkin patch by day or night: Tulleys Farm

Best pumpkin patch for Halloween fun: Priory Farm

Best pumpkin patch for wheelbarrow play: Stanhill Farm

Best pumpkin patch to hang out with animals: Bocketts

Best pumpkin patch for little ones: Crockford Bridge Farm

Best pumpkin event: Poundsbridge Farm

Best with multiple locations: Pumpkin Moon

Best for pumpkin lovers: Secretts

Best in Maidstone: Milebush Farm

Best for the total experience: Garsons

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