With Halloween approaching, a County Durham farm is reaping the rewards of having sown a whopping 70,000 pumpkins this year.
East Grange Farm at High Shincliffe currently has a huge variety of pumpkins spread across 20 acres of space - which offers plenty choice for families preparing to make their annual Halloween lantern. Already the farm's giant pumpkin patch is attracting crowds of visitors and will continue to do so in the run-up to October 31 - or until it runs out.
The current pumpkin extravaganza follows the summer Sunflower Trail which turned adjacent fields into a blaze of yellow, and next it will be the turn of the annual Christmas tree sales. While it's a working farm, keeping a flock of ewes and growing wheat, barley, oats and oilseed rape, farmer Richard Laing - whose family has farmed there for decades and in the Durham area for generations - finds that diversification helps keep the business viable.
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He is keen to add to its attractions and families booking a slot for pumpkin-picking will also find when they arrive that there are also fairground rides, hot drinks and snacks - from pumpkin curry to doughnuts and Halloween-theme cakes - plus some feathered guests who are proving especially popular.
Stuart and Sarah Rose from Gosling Raptors, in Stanley, have brought back a selection of owls which proved a hit with families at Grange Farm's Sunflower Trail attraction. Among them is black barn owl Wizard who was at the centre of a drama during her last visit to the farm, when she managed to untie her own tether and flew off, resulting in a frantic search to find her.
She was finally spotted three days later - and 10 miles away - in Stockton and is now back greeting visitors who, for a small donation, can hold the owls who also include the tiny six-month-old Hades and mighty European eagle owl Milo who boasts a six-foot wing span.
There are plenty photograph opportunities to be found at the farm, thanks to settings including Halloween decorations and scary scarecrows, as families make their way over fields littered with the lines of pumpkins which have been cut free but left in place on the ground.
There are more decorative and unusual pumpkins too, on outdoor display, and in all there are 17 varieties available, in six colours ranging from the familiar deep orange to green and white. Families pre-book their timeslot online, pick up a wheelbarrow upon arrival then are free to wander around and make their choice.
Pumpkins are paid for according to size - and there's a wide range, including some tiny ones - with the £5 booking charge for the visit being taken off the price. In the payment marquee there is also Halloween merchandise on sale alongside locally-made honey and oil.
On the way out, a second marquee hosts the Pumpkin Patch Cafe selling that pumpkin curry with naan bread as well as the likes of burgers and sweet treats, while a separate stand offers beautifully-decorated cakes, some topped with miniature 'pumpkins', made by Seaham sweet shop Just A Littlemore.
Outside are more tables, the doughnut van and funfair attractions alongside an ice cream van positioned near the car park. For more information and to book a visit to the County Durham farm's pumpkin patch see here.
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