Manydown Farm Pick a Pumpkin Event

When: 22nd October to 1st November, 10am-4.30pm

Where: Manydown Family Fun, Scrapps Hill Farm, Worting Road, Basingstoke, RG23 8PU

We went last year to carve pumpkins and this year the staff have changed things around and increased the size of the event. I was really excited when I heard I was going, you see they have witches in their woods and I was determined to find one and cast a spell.

We showed my mummy’s phone to the staff at the till when we arrived, see my mummy had ordered online so she could use a discount code she got from MITKBasingstoke 🙂 great thinking mummy, we made a further saving of £3.75 off our entrance fees.

Maydown Farm standard online prices:
• Adult Single Entry Ticket – £9.00
• Child Single Entry Ticket – £8.50
• Under 2’s Single Entry Ticket – Free
• Family of 3 Entry Ticket   £26.00   £25.00
• Family of 4 Entry Ticket   £32.50   £31.50

It’s a real shame that I’m over 2 years old now as I have to pay the full price of £8.50, even though I can’t go on the larger activities like the go carts and bouncy slide. During this event however, every child’s entry ticket gets a free pumpkin to carve and take home which was awesome!

We headed to get our pumpkin first as we wanted first dibs, slightly disappointed with the pumpkins this year though as a lot of them were rotten. But we managed to find a good one to carve. We were given a bucket, carving spoons and a small segregated knife to carve it, I watched while my mummy carved, but then got distracted by the kids laughing on the bouncy castle so headed off to explore while my mummy finished creating her masterpiece.

Tah Dah! I was a bit scared when my mummy showed me, so we left it on the side with the others and headed to get some lunch from the Farmers’ Retreat Cafe.

Manydown have expanded this area to allow for more tables and undercover places for families to sit. However the food really needs an overhaul, the hotdogs were too expensive for what they were, the soup was cold and from a tin and the roll hadn’t been cut or served with butter. The cooking staff seemed miserable and unhelpful and the bottles of Coke were all out of date!! You are allowed to bring a picnic though, so next time we will bring our own food.

The sun was shining and it was quite pleasant sitting letting the rays of autumn sunlight warm our faces. I found a twig for my magic wand and some more conkers underneath a Horse Chestnut tree by the goats, which kept me amused while my folks took turns to relax.

One of my little friends from nursery turned up and we played on the trampoline and in the sandpit together while our folks chatted and had warm drinks.

Before we knew it the farm was starting to empty, we were losing the light, so we headed into the spooky woods to find the witches.

There is a small woods onsite and the Manydown team had decorated it perfectly. Ghosts were strung up from trees, skeletons were hung. Giant spider webs were spun. There was den building and pumpkins strewn in the bushes. We stopped a while to listen and wait for the witches but none appeared.

Unfortunately we’d missed the witches Storytelling in the barn too, as the last session was at 3pm which was a shame and we weren’t he only ones disappointed too as lots of children were waiting for a witch to appear, they could have done with a 4pm session as the farm closed at 4.30pm. We headed back to the white entrance marque to collect our pumpkin, and discovered we’d won a pack of Haribo 🙂 which cheered me up.

All in all a good afternoon spent on the farm, not as good as last year for us, but still worth a visit if you have older children or under 2’s so you don’t get stung on that £8.50 charge for a toddler.

love Bella x