Review: Pumpkin Picking at Sopley Farm

The excitement for Halloween is palpable in our household! My daughter has just turned three, so this is the first year she really understands and is excited for Halloween and all the fun that goes with it.

To add to the fun and to purchase a decent pick of pumpkins fresh from a local farm, we went pumpkin picking at Dan Tanners Sopley Farm. 

There's a fair number of farms within a 30-minute drive from Poole but from chatting to local parents, Sopley Farm near Christchurch sounded like a popular choice and we can see why!

It was easy to find from Poole, the sat nav only got us so far but Sopley have conveniently added clear signposts from where the sat nav leaves you so there were no dramas getting there.

There's a huge car park and as you drive in, they have a seasonal pumpkin display so my daughter just couldn't wait to get out of the car and get picking!

It's all very easy and straight forward - you just grab a wheelbarrow and head to the pumpkin patch.

First things first though, but much to my daughters frustration, I had to get some photos of the gorgeous display; it was such a lovely opportunity to get my daughter sitting in amongst the pumpkins and it was a lovely sunny autumn day too so we captured fond family memories!

Florence then rushed towards the pumpkin action. I had little time to really absorb it but the grounds at Sopley are stunning and you pass a field full of fresh flowers on the way to the pumpkin fields, it was so beautiful.

We were then met with rows and rows of pumpkins of all sizes! I encouraged my daughter to take a walk through the fields and select her pumpkins carefully rather than grab the first ones we came across and she loved discovering that some pumpkins have bumpy skin and some are green and there are pumpkins of all sizes from mini to enormous! We chose the traditional round ones and selected two little ones for her and Phoebe and a big one for Daddy! 

She was then very determined to push and pull the wheelbarrow all the way back to the farm shop to pay for our pickings!

After all that, I figured we needed refuelling and treated us to their delicious homemade Rocky Road (best Rocky Road I've had and I just wished we'd bought more). Sopley is a family run business and even the cakes and treats are made by the owners' very talented niece #kaythebaker. You'll find lots of fresh and seasonal produce in the farm shop so take a bag with you!

You can also buy pumpkin carving accessories in the shop, and for a bargain £4 we bought a selection of carving tools that came with a stencil booklet with various carving designs. 

We had such a fun morning out creating wonderful memories (it more than lived up to how I imagined our first experience of Pumpkin Picking would be).

It was great value for money too; with three high quality pumpkins, a carving kit, a Rocky Road and Gingerbread Pumpkin all for just £15!

If you aren't as lucky as us weather wise, don't let that put you off; there are lots of fantastic pumpkins available to collect from the store by the car park. They're open 7 days a week and you don't need to book but I imagine the car park gets very full during weekends.

I hope you enjoy your Pumpkin Picking experience at Sopley Farm as much as we did!

For more information, visit Sopley Farm's website here!