Fox’s Farm Pumpkin Patch

The Logistics:

• There are various pumpkin patches around the South East of England, but after checking out public transport links for several of them, Fox’s Farm Basildon location was the winner in terms of convenience
• The C2C trains leave London Fenchurch Street (via West Ham) and London Liverpool Street (via Stratford) every 10-15 min to Basildon (takes 25 min)
• From Basildon train station walk across to the bus station in front of the shopping mall to catch the 100 bus to Walsh Road (stop after ASDA). Takes about 10 minutes. Alternatively you can walk in about 30-40min but it’s not a pretty walk
• Noah Bridge Pub is just a couple minutes walk from the pumpkin patch and has lots of outdoor seating and a large playground with entertainment for all ages. It’s part of the Green King chain, so food is decent but nothing outstanding. Veggies taste frozen.
• Definitly ok to bring a stroller along, but you might want to park it at the entrance to the field to not get it covered in mud
• Most people will say wellies are a must, however, I found shoes you could actually tie better as they were less likely to get stuck in the mud with you or your little one accidentally walking about in socks.

The Fun Bits: T
The outing to this pumpkin patch has become one of my favorite days out of the year. Not only is it a brilliant opportunity to bring my camera out (which hardly happens these days), but it is also a lot of fun to roam around the pumpkin patch, play with wheelbarrows and hop around the straw bails.

Going to a pumpkin patch to pick out a Halloween pumpkin is very much something I picked up during my years living in the US. I love the idea of spending a day outdoors with the family, enjoying lots of fresh air and running around a large field.

Fox’s Farm offers this and so much more. Entry to the farm is free. You just pay for whatever pumpkins or squashes you end up taking home. This is the slightly tricky bit of doing this day out via public transport, as pumpkins are heavy! The first year I went there I didn’t even bother bringing a pumpkin back as it would have just been sitting around until it goes moldy at home anyway. This time I was very excited about bringing home a spaghetti squash as you usually don’t find those that easily in the local store. 

The first bit of fun is to grab a wheelbarrow to take to the pumpkin patch with you. We parked our stroller close to the place where you pick up the wheelbarrows as it was a muddy day and I didn’t really care for it being covered in mud from top to tail. Also, the kiddos prefer a wheelbarrow to ride in anyway.

As you head out into the field you can already see the first piles of pumpkins for easy picking, however there are still more than enough pumpkins all over the field for picture taking and going on a long walk to find just the perfect pumpkin.

To add further fun, all kinds of picture opportunities are spread across the field including large scales picture frames to step into, hay bales turned into smiling super size pumpkins, a measuring bar to see how high you can stack the pumpkins, piles of hay and pumpkins, etc. Personally I prefer the picture of the open field and corn in the background, but this year I did get a brilliant picture of the toddlers trying to stack the pumpkins as high as possible.

If you are heading there early in October, you might still be lucky and also get a chance to check out the corn maze. I love corn mazes, but since the Toddler doesn’t really get the idea of a maze yet I decided to skip it this year. There is a separate charge for the corn maze – check their website for details.

Once you are done with the pumpkin field and corn maze, there is more fun to be had at the straw bale playground, which includes a ‘Slide into the Hay bales’, a straw bale mountain, a Welly wangling, pumpkin tug o war, etc.

Once you have worked up enough of an appetite or are ready to put the kids down for a nap, stroll down the road to the Noak’s Bridge pub and enjoy some more sunshine and a pint. The pub has a large playground with entertainment for all ages and even has some tables in the playground area so you can eat while the little ones go wild.