At the end of summer, I created an autumn bucket list in an attempt to make the colder months more enjoyable, and one of the first things I added to that list was pumpkin picking.
It wasn’t the first one I ticked off, though.
One evening, while watching TV, I made a hot chocolate so rich it almost made me sick.
I’ve sent invites out for our Thanksgiving dinner, and I literally – as in, just a moment ago – ordered a dining table so that we can host our guests.
But the item I was most looking forward to trying – because it was brand new to me – was pumpkin picking. Now that I’ve done it, I know that it’s hardly the most exciting thing in the world – more on that later – but it was something I’ve always wanted to do, and I can’t deny that it made me feel utterly autumnal (which was the whole point of my list)!
Where to go pumpkin picking
After a little bit of rudimentary Googling, I discovered that there’s a pumpkin farm not too far from London: Stanhill Farm in Wilmington. My friend Jules has a car and is equally into autumnal activities, so on a sunny October Saturday, we piled into her car and headed down to Kent.
The weather literally couldn’t have been better: the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it almost, almost (if you closed your eyes and thought about pools and floral dresses) felt like a summer’s day, which is my favourite kind of autumn weather.
We arrived about two hours after leaving home, and headed straight for the pick-your-own pumpkin patch.
What is pumpkin picking like?
After parking the car, we grabbed one of the wheelbarrows that was resting along the fence lining the pumpkin patch. We traipsed into the field, snapping photos and posing while hunting for the perfect pumpkins, which we planned to carve later.
However, approximately five minutes after arriving, we’d found our pumpkins, taken our photos, and were left wondering if we were missing something…
If I’m perfectly honest, it was kind of an underwhelming experience. I should probably point out that we were genuinely the only people there without kids – it’s much more appropriate for families than adults on a bucket list ticking exercise.
Pumpkin picking really is just that…you go to the farm, select your pumpkins, pay for them (by weight) and you’re done! At Stanhill Farm there’s a gorgeous farm shop as well as a picnic area, so if we’d been a bit better prepared, we’d probably have been able to make a bit more of a day of things.
Instead, we drove back via Box Hill and stopped at a country pub for a hearty lunch before heading home.
Pumkin carving
We came home and began pumpkin carving, and I promptly forgot to take any more photos…oops.
I carved two pumpkins; one the traditional way (with a mini saw – I bought a little tool kit at Sainsburys), which turned into a total disaster due to me trying to overcomplicate things, and the other with a drill. The drill method was not only incredibly easy, it also looked great and was way more fun than sawing out a design.
To minimise waste, I also separated and cleaned the seeds to roast later (they make the most delicious snack) and kept as much of the flesh as possible to make a soup, which was also delicious. #PumpkinEverything
Sloe Gin Making
While I was on a roll, I decided to do something else on my list: making my own sloe gin.
I ordered these sloe berries from eBay, grabbed a bottle of Gordon’s from Sainsburys (but you can get it here if you’re a Prime member) and some glass bottles from The Source (you can get the same kind of thing on Amazon too).
Then I half-filled the bottles with sloe berries, topped up the rest with gin, closed the lid and stuck on the labels (which helpfully came with the berries). All I have to do now is turn the bottle every few days, and by Christmas I’ll have a bottle of flavourful sloe gin ready to drink (fingers crossed).
All in all, it was a pretty decent way to spend an autumny Saturday. I can’t say I’ll rush back to a pumpkin farm next year, but I’m glad I’ve done it now, and it’s officially been ticked off my autumn bucket list!
Have you been pumpkin picking? What did you think?
