Remember what I said about traditions and seasons and all that lark? So, my absolute favourite thing to do in October is visit a pumpkin patch. There are none local to us (which is a massive gap in the market if anyone wants to change that for next year!) so we travel to Sopley farm which is Bournemouth way. Now that is admittedly bloody far to travel for a sodding pumpkin that will be mash come November BUT for anyone that is a nostalgic sucker like me, its totally worth the trip. Theres enough around that area to make it worth while if you need a bit more convincing than just the pumpkins (Moores valley and go Gruffalo hunting, or Bournemouth’s Adventureland is right there too). Because our girls are still quite young we just took them to the local garden centre to round off the time spent at the farm. Its got a soft play and fish so that’s basically an aquarium, right? Anyway, back to pumpkin picking.
I’m getting this post out quickly so that any of our friends who are as excited to go pumpkin picking as me can still fit it in before Haloween. It really is a fab spot and such a nice activity for kids, big and small. I always love unspoiled things and this is pretty authentic. Its so lovely to put the wellies on and get outdoors. I can only speak for my kids but they are a thousand times less obnoxious when we are outside in fresh air! Okay, so both kids still suck at car journeys so that makes it a bit tense but the rest of this day was genuinely lovely. We’ve had a couple of those lately (sucsessful outtings that actually live up to expectations) so I think our luck must be running thin. If you see mummy loosing her shit any time soon you’ll know why. Its all about balance, right! So, some pictures.
Even Etty was super excited! she is such a character and such a smiler its un real!
We picked extra pumpkins to decorate the food table at Ettienne’s christening this Sunday. If we have time they should be all beautifully decorated for then, if not pumpkins look amazing anyway. Lets see how this week pans out!
See? smiler!
A big shout out to this man. He humours me and my little obsessions (like driving over an hour to pick a pumpkin we could have bought in tescos) and embraces them with me. Building a childhood full of magic and excitment, engaging them in the world around them, is all we really want. We want these family days to stand out for them, and for them to know that we really did try. Elin is really remembering these things which is both the most exciting thing and really nerve wracking. I want her to remember more of this, and less shouting. There will always be stress but if the scales can tip in our favour on the side of fun and happiness and love, then I think we’re doing alright.
We haven’t visited Sopley at other times but it looks as though they do a whole feast of pick your own, depending on the season. We’ll have to make a conscious effort to visit next summer, the fields of last season’s sunflowers must look beautiful in August! We did get to enjoy some home grown tomatoes though, one of Etty’s favourites since we began weaning.
I swear home grown food just looks and tastes so much better! we only managed to grow potatoes ourselves this year (much to James and Elin’s intense excitment.) but I know we’ll aim to grow lots more in 2018. Aim being the key word, but good intentions are the start at least.
Today at least, i’l keep these ones. 
So we managed to produce a princess who hates getting mcuky hands. Theres a picture earlier of her happily wiping her hands on Daddy’s jeans. And she proved you don’t actually need fingers to carry pumpkins!
Did I mention, princess? Here she is insisting Daddy clean her muddy boots! And like an absolute sucker, he obligued. Talk about wrapping and little fingers, eh.
So, any of our friends with littles, or just a burning desire to visit a real pumpkin patch, we highly recomend Sopley! It is just fun. Silly, autumnal fun and worth it because pumpkins look so cute in pictures. Elin was already asking at bed time to go back, so I think it was a hit. Until next year Sopley, but thanks for keeping this mum’s dream alive!
You can see last years pictures here-
https://littlelathey.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/pumpkin-patch/ where I’m sporting a baby Etty shaped bump! I love seeing how we’ve changed, and seeing just how much Elin’s hair has grown, too!
Little Lathey 
It looks like you guys had so much fun! I didn’t realize how lucky we were to have pumpkin patches so close to us. I would totally do the same thing though, I’m a sucker for holiday traditions!!
LikeLike