We visited our first ever pumpkin patch on Thursday - it was fantastic! We had about an hour's drive to get there, it's situated near to Stirling. A lovely little family-run farm with picturesque views, fields of sheep & cows rolling for miles and a cute little village surrounding.
We purchased a ticket online to park the car as there were limited spaces, this then got you a token for the price of the ticket off any pumpkins you buy which I thought was great as I'd have gladly paid for these separately. We arrived a little after our time slot began (11:30am) and there were staff getting all the cars parked neatly and quickly into the car park. We then threw on our wellies, got the baby into the wrap and walked down towards the entrance tent where we were welcomed by some lovely friendly faces & some fantastic looking pumpkins!
It was pretty muddy right from the start but we expected this! They had 'welly hire' where you paid £1 to swap your shoes for a pair of wellies for the day, but I would say not to rely on it if possible as they had very limited amounts of each size! We walked around the patch whilst Lewis had a play on some big hay bales. Some were painted like sheep & there was even one painted like a giant pumpkin! Lewis found it lots of fun climbing around on these big piles of straw. He was happy when he climbed to the top and proudly shouted he could see everyone picking their pumpkins and the fun 'train ride' from up high!
We decided to have something to eat before getting stuck into the available activities. Between us we had a hot dog, square sausage, cheeseburger & a pizza. The food was all delicious! High-quality meats and the pizza was rolled-out, assembled and cooked in a big portable pizza oven right in front of us. Lewis got some candy floss and I grabbed a latte to help keep warm (although I'm sure the pumpkin-spiced Gin would have had the same effect!) and we made our way over to the pumpkin patch! There were loads to choose from and I have since learned that it was actually rather sparse when we went, and they have since emptied a second patch onto the space. That's a LOT of pumpkins! We spent a good amount of time choosing just the right pumpkins for the job, pointing out along the way which ones were the biggest, the muddiest and some that looked like they had faces!
We chose our perfect pumpkins then Daddy and Aunt Lauren took Lewis into the kale maze as it was very, very muddy and I did not want to slip wearing Zara in the wrap! They had great fun, I walked along the side of it watching and listening to them squealing when they were getting stuck in the mud and Lewis shouting with joy every time he found another Halloween item from the board at the entrance. I stood and watched a very talented man & lady wood carving. They had some lovely pieces for sale and you could have them carve your name into some wood while you watched, for a very reasonable price! We took a walk up in between the fields at the back, the left full of gigantic turnips and the right overflowing with potatoes. You could dig these up to purchase also, but we were struggling to carry just our pumpkins around - we would recommend grabbing a wheelbarrow at the start if you can!
Lewis was really excited to try a little ride near to the entrance, he kept asking if he could go and have a shot yet so we went down and joined the queue. His turn came around and he put on a muddy helmet and Daddy lifted him into his little 'pod'. There were 6 barrels with wheels on the bottom and little seats & steering wheels inside all joined up with a quad bike on the front pulling them along. You could hear the little giggles and squeals from the boys and girls as the little trailers bumped along the field, throwing mud up into the air around them. Lewis had the biggest smile on his face that I had seen all day!
We took a little walk back up to the food trucks and got some churros to share - they were absolutely delicious, I could have eaten those all day long! Lewis went for a little run around on the grass and we had a good trample in the mud before we joined the queue to pay for our pumpkins. They had some really sweet little items for sale including tiny knitted pumpkins, lovely decorated mugs, a selection of different chutneys, toffee apples & fruit loaves. They were also selling some fantastic looking freshly frozen cuts of their own lamb meat.
As we headed back to the car they began to sound an alarm to warn us it was almost our time up - I couldn't believe how fast 3 hours had just zoomed by! We were having so much fun we hadn't noticed how long we had been there. It was such a fantastic day out and we were all so exhausted from all the leg work and the fresh country air that most of us fell asleep on the journey home! (Except poor Daddy who had to drive & myself as I attempted to direct him back towards home with the SatNav!)
We would highly recommend visiting Arnprior Pumpkin Farm to anyone thinking about going along. It was something different to do and perfect for this time of year. We will definitely be returning next year! My only recommendation for the farm would be some more hay bales placed around to perch on and take in the views, or for resting little legs on whilst eating the delicious food served there. Thank you to all the lovely staff members whose customer service was top notch, and well done! What a fantastic day out.