Sompting Pumpkins picking patch opening dates and times for 2024 – take a peek at our pictures

Sompting Pumpkins is based at the 1,000-acre Lychpole Farm just off the A27 at Sompting and will be open again this weekend and for October half term. It offers 25 different varieties of pumpkins to pick, as well as tractor and trailer rides, arts and crafts, food and drinks for sale as well as food demonstrations and recipe ideas.

Caroline Harriott and her husband David have been tenant farmers at Lychpole for almost 20 years, but have been growing pumpkins there for six years.

Around 60,000 seeds are planted in the first week of June, to ensure the pumpkins are ready for October.

Caroline said the patch has become incredibly popular since it was started, and each year they welcome thousands of people up to the farm.

She said: “Pumpkins are beautiful decorations that are there for carving, if you want to, but they're also great for eating. Spending time up in the picking patch makes you feel good, it makes people smile, and it’s a lovely, traditional day out.

"We’ve had people coming here since we opened and it’s become a lovely thing that family and friends do each year. We love seeing how the children have grown, and seeing people send us pictures of them with their pumpkins each year.”

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Caroline and family are keen to make Sompting Pumpkins different from other experiences by using the opportunity to teach visitors about farming. On the tractor and trailer ride, for which riders are asked to make a donation to Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice, Caroline shows them the other fields at Lychpole and explains crop rotations and the type of livestock they have.

And once people have picked their pumpkins, that’s not the end of their experience as they can relax with a coffee, or pumpkin-themed treats such as ice cream, burgers and loaded fries, or let their children take part in a craft session.

Caroline added: “I think we’re unique in that in one direction you have quite an urban landscape, with the sea and windfarm in the distance, and look the other way and you can’t see another house or building for miles.

"We love being able to get people up here, to see what we do and educate them about farming. We can show them they wheat and barley we grow, and how and why we rotate which field we grow the pumpkins in. We tell them a story so they feel like they’ve gone home knowing more and having good value for money.” Caroline is also passionate about teaching people how to use pumpkins in cookery, proving information on which pumpkins work best in which types of dishes and recipes.

She added: “Of course, our main aim is to sell pumpkins, but we want it to be about so much more than that. We hope people come away having had a wholesome experience, having learned something and had a fun, family experience.”

Sompting Pumpkins is open this weekend – October 19 and 20 – from 10am to 4pm, and then again from 10am to 4pm from October 26 to 31. Entry is via Halewick Lane, Sompting, BN15 0NE. For more information, see the website.