Pick your perfect pumpkin for a horrifying Halloween

Children can pick their own monster pumpkins ahead of this year’s spookiest festival.

A farm in Sevington is again opening its field to the public ahead of Halloween, giving families the chance to select and then pick their own pumpkin.

The farm is owned by brothers Jake and Mark Thompson, who have been growing the squashes for more than 15 years and are now one of the UK’s top five suppliers.

They opened their field for the first time to families in 2014 and saw hundreds of people pull on their wellies and stomp through the mud in the quest to find the largest or ugliest pumpkin.

Jemma Thompson, who manages the Pick Your Own Pumpkin event, said: “Pick Your Own Pumpkin initiated as an idea to sell surplus crop. We were astounded with the number of people who came to pick their own pumpkin last year and I have been flooded with requests to open again.

“Thankfully, due t o t he weather, we will be open again this October.

“This year we will make donations to two charities: the Twin- kling Stars Project and Abbie’s Army.”

The Twinkling Stars Project has been set up to raise money for a stillbirth bereavement unit at the William Harvey Hospital and Abbie’s Army raises funds for DIPG Children’s Brain Cancer Research.

It is estimated that more than four million pumpkins will be sold in the UK in the lead-up to Halloween this year.

Once called jack-o-lanterns, they are used to celebrate Halloween, with monstrous faces carved into them and candles placed in their hollowed-out interiors.

It was once thought that a lit pumpkin would keep ghouls and vampires away, but now it shows trick-or-treaters which homes they should call at.

Pumpkins will be priced according to size, with small ones costing £1 and monsters £4.

They can be picked from 10am4pm on October 10-11, October 17-18 and then every day from October 24-31 at the field off Cheeseman’s Green Lane, Sevington, TN24 0LL.

To get there, follow the signs from the M20 junction 10 to Sevington church and look out for the pumpkin signs.

Parking is available on the field opposite or on the road, depending on weather.

Pumpkin-pickers of all ages are welcome but are asked to wear wellies and gloves. No dogs are allowed.

For more i nf o r mati o n, go t o www. f acebook. com/ Pickyourownpumpkin/

‘We were astounded with the number of people who came to pick their own’

Having a ball: happy days for Aoife and Mac Thompson in the pumpkin field at Sevington, which is open to the public next month

Pumpkins are being grown at the Sevington farm again