Pumpkin patching it up

For the last couple of years I’d seen all these posts over my socials around this time of year about people taking their kids to pumpkin patches and picking their own pumpkin. and every year I’d say “oh I wish I’d booked that for the boys” but life always seemed to get in the way and I’d be too busy or I’d forget to book and before you know it it was either sold out or I’d simply just missed it.

This year I decided that enough was enough and I was going to book ALL the activities.

So first in the list of activities, naturally was Arnprior pumpkin patch.

The boys were off for their October holidays so I sat one night with the weather app to see which day would be the best to go.....yeah Debby you live in Scotland and it’s an outdoor activity....of course it was bound to be raining every day!!

So we decided to book it for the Wednesday as my sister could also make it that day.

The website was pretty easy to navigate and stated that all we had to do was book a spot in the car park for £5 (after Eventbrite popped their fees on it was about £6.50) but you received a token or arrival which took £5 off the cost of the pumpkin.

We loaded up the wellies and waterproofs and headed off. When we arrived we asked about disabled parking as some of the spaces were on a hill and I knew that after an hour or so of walking round a field in wellies that provide zero support my tiny one wouldn’t manage to walk back to the car - especially if we’d parked at the top of the hill. We were shown to a spot right by the poly tent entrance so it couldn’t have been more ideal!!

Our first port of call was the quad pods.

My 13 year old had done his own googling and discovered that they were here so was desperate for a go.

None of us quite anticipated just how mucky this would be!!

So my top tip here would be to make sure you ride them last when you’ve done all your pretty pictures and everything else you plan on doing......yeah my poor child was covered head to toe in mud before we’d even got anywhere near the pumpkin patch!

The boys had also discovered during their little google stint that there was a kale maze. So of course that was next on the agenda. Again I don’t think any of us were prepared for quite how muddy it was!!! It was quite difficult to walk in and my youngest became a little distressed and we had to find the nearest exit.

One of the things I loved most about the day was the amount of amazing photo ops that had been provided by the owners!! (Obviously i‘d say that though eh haha) but in all seriousness it was really well thought out!! They even had a photographer there on the day so you could capture some lovely memories. (The photographer is only there certain days so check first to see if they’re available when your booking)

The pumpkins themselves were fine! Although there did seem to be an awful lot more green than orange! I‘d actually hoped to have gotten a white one and some little ones for some sessions but we looked and looked and didn’t find any so that was a little disappointing.

After our pumpkin picking we had to stop to let the little ones rest for a bit so we stopped for some churros and did a little colouring in the tent.

Being avid lovers of loop and scoop it was a nice little surprise to see that’s who were responsible for our delicious snack!!

There were other foodstuffs available including handmade pizza, hot chocolate - heck there was even a gin truck!!!! (Typically I was driving though so couldn’t enjoy a little tipple!)

There was also face painting and glitter tattoos available but none of ours fancied having it done......strange kids!!

So that was our afternoon, all that was left to do was pay for our pumpkin and be on our way! Now I’d seen a few reports online in various mum groups about how much of a rip off the pumpkin prices were! So I knew it was going to be a bit more expensive for these pumpkins than the ones I’d seen in Asda!

The large pumpkins were £10 each and £3 for the dinky one that my niece fell in love with. Now If you ask me I think it was a bargain!!! We had a great wee day out, the kids had a blast and more importantly we were supporting a local, family run business! (The only tiny issue I had was the pick and mix! It was little bit too expensive for me at 5p per sweet. I don’t know if this is just my old age showing though as all I could think of was they’re penny sweets! haha)

So would I recommend Arnprior?

You better believe I would! 100%

Just don’t forget the wellies (although you can hire them there!) Oh and do the quad pods last!!!!

https://www.arnpriorfarm.com/pumpkins