Pumpkin Picking at Night

As the kiddies get older, they seem to be becoming less and less interested in Halloween, pumpkins and all those little seasonal activities that I used to enjoy doing with them. It’s getting increasingly difficult to persuade them to join in, and perhaps I just need to accept that they're growing up and let some of these traditions go. Maybe the reality is that I'm trying to hang on to these memories more for my own benefit than theirs! 😂

Anyway, in an attempt to mix things up a little this year, we decided to try a night-time pumpkin-picking event at Marsh Farm. Joshua wasn't particularly keen and was tired after work, so it was just me, Tina, Brandon and Holly making the trip.

I have to say, the set-up at Marsh Farm was pretty impressive. They'd effectively created a whole little village experience, complete with various funfair-style activities. There was archery, ball toss, ring toss, beanbag throwing and a few other games to have a go at. Best of all, these were all included in the admission price, rather than the usual funfair approach of charging you an arm and a leg for every activity!

One thing that never fails to amaze me is just how many different varieties of pumpkins seem to appear at these events each year. Back when I was younger, pumpkins were pretty straightforward: round and orange. Job done! Nowadays, you can apparently get them in white, yellow, orange, green, grey, black… and don't even get me started on the shapes!

Some of them barely resemble pumpkins at all. The strangest one we spotted this year looked like an albino starfish! I'm not entirely sure who decided that was a desirable pumpkin shape, but each to their own! 😂

Anyway, we had a lovely evening and it was nice to get everyone out of the house for a few hours. We enjoyed a drink while we were there, Holly indulged in some chips, and eventually we picked out our pumpkins before heading over to the shop to pay for them.

It was a shame Josh didn't fancy coming along, but I suppose that's just part of the kids getting older and having their own lives and priorities. And as I said earlier, perhaps these outings are becoming more about me wanting to preserve those family memories than the kids themselves wanting to make them.

So I'll take what I can get! I managed to persuade Brandon and Holly to come along, and even better, Tina was free for a rare evening when she wasn't working. Four out of five isn't bad, and I'll happily take that as another little family memory banked. ❤️

Night time pumpkin picking at Marsh Farm.

A rare sight of normal round orange pumpkins!

Some impressive displays before entering the village itself.

Got to love Autumn colours.

Is this me and Tina growing old trying to hang on to Halloween traditions.

Some of the weird and wonderful pumpkins.

Brandon was complaining the piano was out of tune (not sure how he would know!).

Really - a pumpkin?

R.I.P Brandon.

Just about got a smile from Holly, she wasn't keen on photos today.

More impressive dispalys.

Me and wifey.

Eerie setting of the nighttime village.

Knocking the ducks down with 5 balls each.

Oh how I want this in my back garden.

Beanbags in the pumpkin mouth. Harder than it looks.

The ducks were too easy for Brandon as he cleared them all.

Archery time. Missing the bull/gold meant doing a forfeit.

All those years of Cubs and Scouts finally paying off.

Me, Holly and B.

I think we all failed at throwing the hoops on to the bottles.

Since when were pumpkins white?

Just two baldies hanging out.

Another old collectable vehicle that would be much better served in my ownership.

4 out of the 5 of us.

A slight mist in the air really added to the atmosphere over Marsh Farm.

There was a lady performing with fire and doing some fire eating tricks over there.

She was good, but Holly thought Matt was better.

Hot chocolate time to warm u the hands.

Themed hot chocolate with a pumpkin marshmellow.

Holly and B.

The albino starfish pumpkin!!!!

Me and wifey again. If only I could take that vehicle home!

Is it sad I was more interested in the old vehicles than the pumpkin experience?

Who knew they grew in star formations in the field.

Holly bought this little pumpkin as a hat for her main pumpkin carving.

Brandon posing and being worried whether his jeans would get dirty sitting here.