Cannon Hall Farm Pumpkin Festival 2024: Yorkshire farm to host annual Halloween event where there will be spooky surprises for visitors

Cannon Hall Farm’s Pumpkin Festival will include more than 15,000 pumpkins where visitors can pick their own.

The annual pumpkin festival has been running for more than a decade, but this year’s event will include thousands more pumpkins, as well as specially designed Instagram photo opportunities and a spooky pumpkin virtual reality ride.

The festival, which runs on selected dates up to Halloween on October 31, has grown year on year and now attracts visitors from across the country, though numbers are limited to ensure everyone enjoys their time.

The family friendly event, where children will get free pumpkins that expert carvers shape for them, is a showcase of what the tourism attraction has to offer in colder months.

Director Rob Nicholson said: “Historically for us, it was very difficult to get people to come to Cannon Hall Farm in the autumn or winter, when it is dropping colder and darker.

“We always did well at Springtime when we saw new lambs, but autumn used to be a much more difficult proposition.

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“The pumpkin festival was a real game changer for us, and it is absolutely incredible to see how it has grown each year into what it has become today. We love nothing more than seeing the kids wheeling the barrows round to choose their pumpkins and I personally take real pride in the fact that we can help them make such special, family memories.”

Robert said that all items used are recycled after use.

“We are a family business and we can never forget that when planning events like this,” he said.

“What’s even more special about our pumpkin patch is that absolutely nothing is wasted - this year we’ve laid bark paths, and those will be swept up and recycled.

“The great thing is that any pumpkins left here at the end will be eaten by the sheep, they will not be wasted. It will all go back to the land and the field will graze cattle again in the Springtime.

“We wouldn’t do it if we couldn’t reuse the consumable materials involved - the straw will go onto the muck heap onto the land to help grow grass and so on.

“Who would have thought there was a thing like this when we were young? When I was a lad you had to struggle to carve a turnip, share it between us brothers and then eat it when you were done.”

Cannon Hall Farm is the official host farm for the Channel 5 series On The Farm and is currently filming for a new season called Winter on the Farm which will air at the end of the year.