Pick-your-own pumpkin farm draws families to the Asher Valley in its busiest October yet

The car park at Brackenridge Farm overflowed by mid-morning on Saturday as families arrived to choose their own pumpkins from the field. The farm, near the village of Ashcombe in the Asher Valley, is in its fifth season of pick-your-own pumpkins and says this October has been its busiest yet, with around 14,000 visitors expected before the end of the month.

Farmer Rhiannon Castell and her husband Joel started growing pumpkins on a two-hectare field as an experiment after a poor wheat harvest. This year they planted eight hectares with 14 varieties, from giant orange pumpkins for carving to small striped squashes and blue-grey varieties prized for their sweet, dense flesh. Visitors pay a €4 entry fee, which is deducted from what they buy, and pumpkins are priced by size.

Our wheat went to a merchant and we never met the people who ate it. Now thousands of families come and walk on our land.

Not just for lanterns

Ms Castell is keen for people to eat their pumpkins as well as carve them. Signs in the field explain which varieties are best for soup, roasting or baking, and the farm café sells pumpkin soup made from damaged fruit that cannot be sold. A recipe card is handed out with every purchase. "Most of a carving pumpkin is perfectly good to eat," she said. "Roast the seeds too, they are delicious with a little salt."

The farm has also added a straw-bale maze, a small play area and wheelbarrows for carrying pumpkins back to the car. Unsold fruit is given to a local animal sanctuary or ploughed back into the soil. Several other Asher Valley farms have started similar ventures, and the Asher Valley Growers' association says diversifying in this way is helping smaller farms cope with unpredictable cereal prices.

The field is open daily until 31 October from 9am to 5pm. Visitors are advised to wear boots, as the ground can be muddy, and to come on weekdays if possible to avoid the weekend queues.