If there's one thing I feel passionately about it's pumpkin patches!! I always saw my American and Canadian friends having such fun days out at amazingly organised pumpkin patches full to the brim with fun things for kids to see and do, and dozens of different varieties of pumpkins! It felt like the UK was never going to catch up! and then all of a sudden they are becoming a thing now, much to my delight!!
It's been a fun little tradition we started with Ella's first halloween and I've tried to find ones to go to every year since!
The first year was a real deal pumpkin patch called Malpas Pumpkins, just near to Chester. We dressed Ella up as a pumpkin for the part! and since it was our 1st ever time on a patch we loved everything about it - from the amazing corn maze filled with spooky characters to loading up your wheelbarrow with the pumpkins you picked!
The next year we had moved to the Borders, and much to my disappointment there were none nearby! We ended up venturing to Northumberland, to a farm shop - Brockbushes, to check out their 'patch'. I was pretty disappointed that they had just thrown some hay down and hidden some shop bought pumpkins underneath! They did do a fun little skit about a good witch and a bad witch and you got a tractor ride to the 'patch' but it was a bit of a let down especially after how good our previous one had been!
So I knew our third year had to be awesome! and it was! I found Arnprior Pumpkins just outside of Stirling, and it was worth the drive! It was a huuuuuge patch! with pumpkins everywhere. They had all these cute photo ops, and a hay bale mountain for the kids to climb, and you could pull up a turnip and they had a kale maze too!
Last year, we didn't end up going to any kind of patch! but Byron said we didn't need to since we had our own one in our veggie patch in the garden! We managed to grow some pretty good pumpkins, and so I still got a little photo op out of it!
We checked out a new one this year, it's just at a farm shop on the outskirts of Edinburgh - Craigie's - so I wasn't expecting much. I had seen on their website that they grow them in poly tunnels and so I assumed they would then just dump them in a little patch of grass for people to pick but how wrong I was!
I was super excited to get there and discover a pretty big patch, with some still attached to the vine too!
and with the Firth of Forth in the background, it made for a pretty scenic spot! Ella was very excited and cried 'I can see the sea'!!
I dressed Addison up in her little pumpkin outfit from Granny Kathy, and of course Ella didn't want to be left out so she donned her witch costume from last year...complete with hand made wand!
Addi really enjoyed her first time at a pumpkin patch! and loved all the smiles that everyone was giving her when they saw her in her cute costume!
I think this was the moment she realised she was dressed like the orange things she was sitting beside!
Every day preceding the day we went had been gale force winds and grey and rainy! So we lucked out with the most epic blue sky day, and it was actually 22 degrees! which was freakishly warm for an October day but we certainly weren't complaining! We went and checked out the pumpkins in the poly tunnels too.
Pumpkins as far as the eye can see! the crooked stalk ones are my fave!
They must have had at least 7 or 8 different varieties! even more than we had discovered on the real deal patch at Stirling. Ella was especially partial to these blue ones!
whilst I was keen on these yellow ones, and I loved the way the sun was hitting them just right!
Since I was holding the camera, and a baby, Ella did the honours of carrying the pumpkins around for me and picking the best one!
Once we were done with all the picking, we checked out their cute farm shop which is full of the yummiest treats and Ella had a play at the park.
and a little pic of the two of us, just to prove I was there joining in the fun too!
We also said hey to the piggies before we left, and Ella was so excited to check in all the egg boxes by the chickens and see who had been laying!
All in all, it was one of my favourite pumpkin patch experiences by far, and I loved our little haul we came away with!
We had headed into Edinburgh itself in the morning, and oh how that city lends itself to autumn!
It's not even at full peak yet, but the colours were still looking lovely!
I took Ella to Lush - her fave shop, she is obsessed with bath bombs! She had got a rather wonderful report at her first parents evening 2 weeks ago and so I promised her some lush goodies as a reward to say well done!
She had so much fun carefully selecting which bath bombs she wanted, and was especially pleased that all the staff in there made such a fuss of her in her costume! She even turned the lady who served us into a frog, who played along complete with ribbet sound effects!!
Of course no Edinburgh trip is ever complete without Ben's Cookies!
Ella insisted we find a nice sunny spot on a bench to eat them on, so we picked this one in Princes St Gardens.
Ella then told me she wanted me to pop Addi's pumpkin hat on so that I could take photos of the two of them in the leaves! Be still my beating heart! The day my child requests a photo shoot is the best day! Of course I was only to happy to oblige!
We found this rather leafy spot, and it was gorgeous with the sun streaming through!
I wish this picture had audio - she was running around like a crazy person, kicking and throwing leaves in the air shouting 'I love autumn, autumn is just the best'!
It was too cute! Love her enthusiasm for everything!
and I just can't handle the cuteness of these pics of the two of them!
Look at Addison's little face! Ever the willing model! I think this one's a framer!
I loved this one - Ella sneaking in some kisses! and her hat obscuring Addison from view, but such a sweet little moment captured!
I am so grateful these two are mine!
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