Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

What's the point in a pumpkin patch

69 replies

Llindsey85 · 26/10/2019 15:51

So, my son is just turning 3 and suddenly my Facebook is full of people taking their kids to pumpkin patches.
What is the point in these? It seems like farms just buy in a ton of pumpkins, put them in a previous empty field and I presume charge double what the supermarket does.
Am i missing something here?

OP posts:

Sparklingbrook · 26/10/2019 18:11

I love going to PYO in the summer, the taste of the fruit is amazing.

I don't know whether I could enthuse so much about Pumpkin picking, because I could just buy one from the supermarket. Because I am not going to eat it just carve it to stick a candle in.

What do you actually do at the Pumpkin patch? My two DC are grown up so this has all passed me by.

Sparklingbrook · 26/10/2019 18:13

Oh sorry, i see. you pretend to pick a pumpkin. It's like a Halloween event.

I am quite surprised this is popular as judging by MN threads nobody actually takes part in Halloween.

ShinyGiratina · 26/10/2019 18:18

One of my regular running routes goes straight through a field that is used for pumpkin picking and they do look a bit plonked there as the plants die back, but I've been enjoying watching them flower, grow and ripen over the last few months.

We're cheapskates, we just go for a nice walk along the public footpaths to admire them

SimonJT · 26/10/2019 18:24

We went to one today (and didn’t get soaked!), the pumpkins were grown on site but cut as the vines are quite tough.

In the barn you can have hot/cold drinks and use their tools, stensils etc to carve your pumpkin. They also have a little farm park, so goats, sheep, chickens etc and a little playground.

My four year old really likes it, we were there for just over two hours and he still wasn’t really ready to leave.

dayswithaY · 26/10/2019 19:27

I thought it was just me. Turned up at much publicised pumpkin patch. Literally a field with pumpkins in it. Bratty children kicking them to a pulp. Yummy mummies in Barbour jackets shouting a lot. Pointless. Just go for a nice country walk instead.

LeftoverPizza · 26/10/2019 19:34

They’re not that popular by mr but I can see the appeal

Crabonastick · 26/10/2019 19:37

We went to one last year, kids loved it, but it was heaving with grown ass men and women in their lumberjack shirts queueing for over an hour for their #autumnal selfies in front of the pumpkin display

Reallynowdear · 26/10/2019 19:38

Social media, that's all.

ShiveringCoyote · 26/10/2019 19:38

There was a big facebook hullabaloo over a local pumpkin farm last year. Extortionate price for entry, pay for a tractor and trailer ride, snacks and food were ridiculously expensive and to top it off they forgot to remove the Aldi stickers from the pumpkins in the field.

steff13 · 26/10/2019 19:42

You take a hayride to the pumpkin patch, pick a pumpkin, hayride back, then have hot apple cider and a pumpkin donut. It's just for fun.

joffreyscoffees · 26/10/2019 19:47

It gets children out into fresh air and nature?

BarryTheKestrel · 26/10/2019 19:48

Our local ones are grown there. Big barn with picnic benches and tools for carving (no mess at home). We pay £3-5 to go in and that's the cost for 1 pumpkin, a free drink (tea, coffee, hot chocolate, mulled cider) and a apple flapjack thing.

Its on a working farm but they have a farm shop and a small petting zoo too so its an easy way to spend an afternoon. They've been very busy over half term. Spring to autumn they have events as over the winter they are very quiet, gives them the funds to stay open and working.

joffreyscoffees · 26/10/2019 19:49

The one we went to was a young couple who had rented a field for a year from a farmer and have been tending to the pumpkins all year - most were still on their vines in the ground. It was brilliant - nothing fancy at all but DD absolutely loved stomping around and looking at them all. Pretty much none of them were orange so we got a lovely selection of green and yellow ones.

Oneborneverydecade · 26/10/2019 19:51

First time we've ever been. Ours are definitely grown on site. Tbh we mostly went for lunch, we didn't even buy a pumpkin

Funlovingpastacat · 26/10/2019 19:57

The one near us is run by a farm and I'm pretty sure they grow the pumpkins there. Yes they are more expensive than the supermarket but it kills a bit of time (there are usually a few activities) and supports a local business. This is my token effort for halloween . Id rather select and buy an overpriced pumpkin, get the kids outside and have a hot chocolate than buy loads of plastic halloween tat . I realise its entirwly possible to do neither!! I don't post on SM about it though.

Serin · 26/10/2019 20:08

They are very very easy to grow.
Our DC used to love seeing who could grow the biggest every year.

BarbedBloom · 26/10/2019 20:12

The ones near us are all on farms so you go and choose a pumpkin to take home, like a strawberry patch. Then they also set up little photo areas for those with kids. I don't have children but I think the photos are quite sweet.

Boireannachlaidir · 26/10/2019 20:18

Ffs what do people expect a pumpkin patch to be. Of course it's a field of blooming pumpkins.

Go get yer chlorinated shrink wrapped pumpkins from the supermarket then.

@treeofwhispers that's so funny, great idea

Velveteenfruitbowl · 26/10/2019 20:22

What else are you going to do with your kids over half term? I would rather spend half a day in a muddy field and excited children than at the local soft play.

hidinginthenightgarden · 26/10/2019 20:24

Our local one is a pick your own farm all year round. They are grown in the field and are muh cheaper than supermarkets!

BertieBotts · 26/10/2019 20:25

WTF is a pumpkin donut? :o Sounds horrible.

The pumpkin patch sounds quite fun, though. I could get behind that actually.

Original poster

Llindsey85 · 26/10/2019 20:27

I see some of the farms do actually grow them...
The ones round here tend to be in with the farm park type places and it really seems like they are just bought in mass and dropped round a field. It's the fact they keep replenishing them that makes it's seem to false.
FYI we get plenty of fresh air and fun elsewhere - I was just struggling to see the appeal of walking round a field choosing a pumpkin that has likely been brought in from elsewhere.

OP posts:

Userzzzzz · 26/10/2019 20:32

I went last year and it was really good fun. The farm clearly grows them onsite (and then moved) and there are tractor rides, entertainment, food etc. We’ve not been this year because of the weather but if you pick the right place it is a nice day out.

Birthdaycakemondays · 26/10/2019 20:32

We went for the first time last week & spent FOUR HOURS there. Madness... in a field of pumpkins. It was actually really fun, kids loved it & finding the perfect pumpkins became really addictive.

They were grown on site & had loads of different types I’d never seen before... it was also free entry & the pumpkins were reasonably priced. Got 3 in varying sizes for £6.

They also had a Halloween craft tent, we had lunch & you get wheel barrows to push the kids/pumpkins in

It’s just a cheap day out to get into the spirit... you’re being very unreasonable & grumpy OP!

Ponoka7 · 26/10/2019 20:34

All the farms that do them around me have, as said, farmyard animals or petting zoos and a playground set up.

It's a nice day out and gets the kids in touch with the 'proper' outdoors.

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread