Kilduff Farm, located in East Lothian near Edinburgh, will kick off its fifth Pumpkin Festival this October, with a pick your own pumpkin event.
Run by husband-and-wife team Russ and Lucy Calder, the family event will welcome people from across the country to select their pumpkin ahead of Halloween this October.
Visitors will enjoy a whole host of fun and games on the patch as well as seasonal food from local food producers and the opportunity to buy produce from Kilduff’s kitchen larder.
Over 20,000 seeds were sown by the family earlier this year. In addition to a wide range of carving varieties, the team also prize themselves on their homegrown culinary varieties, including Crown Prince, Kuri, Tractor and Festival.
For several years now Russ and Lucy have been championing culinary pumpkins, encouraging more people to grow and eat this delicious and versatile fruit, which has long been overlooked in British kitchens.
Commenting on this year’s festival the couple said: “Each year we look forward to creating an exciting event which will welcome people from across the country onto our farm, helping to reconnect them with nature and of course select their perfect pumpkin.
"We are so passionate about the food we produce, and this is a celebration of what we do in our little corner of Scotland.
"We want to inspire more people to grow their own and cook with seasonal and local produce for the benefit of ourselves and our wider environment. Even more vital in the current environmental and economic climate.
“The festival this year will provide fun for everyone, whether five or 85, and we hope people leave with a smile on their faces, muddy boots and fond family memories.”
As well as pumpkin picking, Lucy and Russ are hoping that visitors will be able to pick their own dahlias on The Patch this year.
Always keen to try new things and up for a challenge, the team have planted over 400 hundred Dahlia tubers beside the pumpkins for the very first time.
This cut flower favourite will add a splash of colour to the Patch while attracting pollinators to help grow their precious pumpkins.
There will be no shortage of photographic opportunities with the return of the famous Pumpkin House and Russ’ prize and joy, ‘Blue’, his 1950’s vintage GMC pickup truck.
The bale maze and mountain will return allowing the young at heart to run off some steam, and the Big Red Barn will also be popping up, providing a place from which to bag yourself some Kilduff honey, apple juice and bread flour, all produced on the farm.
Tickets are available now online priced at £6 per car. The Festival will kick off on 15 October and run until 30 October.
