Pumpkin growers are ready to welcome Derbyshire families to pick your own patches after challenging weather conditions

The popular pastime coincides with the school half-term holiday and leads up to Halloween. Growers are now getting ready to welcome hordes of families looking for plump pumpkins to carve or turn into delicious meals.

Village Pumpkins at Johnnygate Lane, Barlow will be open on October 5 and 6, 12 and 13, 19 and 20 and weekdays from October 21. Admission £3 (adults and children over 12), free for under 12s – tickets do not include a pumpkin. Book at https://tinyurl.com/2scz7fx6

Ashover Family Farm at Eastwood Lane, Ashover has 50,000 pumpkins to choose from and will be open from October 5 to 31. Free admission and free parking. Hot food and hot drinks will be available.

Pumpkin picking is back for the fourth year at Stretton Hall Farm, Newmarket Lane, Clay Cross, starting on October 5 and running throughout the whole of the month. There will be many different varieties available, including white pumpkins. For updates, go to www.facebook.com/strettonhallfarmshop

Mr Pumpkin at Lime Farm, Mansfield Road, Morley has 50 varieties of pumpkins to choose from, having planted more than 90,000! This will be the first pumpkin patch to open in Derbyshire this year, welcoming visitors from September 29. Pumpkin picking at this site will operate every weekend until October 20 and then daily until October 31. Tickets are priced at £2.50 for aged 16+. Under 16s are free at non-peak times. On peak dates, tickets for 3-15 years are £1 each. Under 3s remain free. Book at www.mrpumpkin.co.uk

Shirley Pumpkins at Shirley, near Ashbourne, will be open on the weekends of October 12 and 13, 19 and 20 and then every day from October 25 to 31. Pumpkins will be priced from 50p to £10 depending on size.

This year hasn’t been ideal for pumpkins which require warm, sunny conditions to thrive. Village Pumpkins, posted on social media: “It’s been an extremely difficult growing season this year with cold, wet and windy weather giving the poor little pumpkin plants a pretty rough start but they’re making good progress, ready to see you all next month!”

Mr Pumpkin at Morley posted: “The pumpkins are a couple of weeks behind so we are keeping them on their vines until just before we open the gates.”

But the poor weather has taken its toll elsewhere. Pumpkin Corner at Ashbourne posted: “We are absolutely gutted to update you all that we will be closed for the 2024 pumpkin picking season due to the bad growing season we've had! Despite putting in a lot of time, effort and money into this year alongside bringing our little girl into the world, our pumpkins have not delivered! Our pumpkins are organic so we can't use any weed sprays or fertilisers to speed the growing process up. So with a cold, very wet spring the pumpkins have had a slow start and not caught up enough to produce the usual yield of pumpkins.”