I went to one of the North East’s pumpkin patches for the first time and came home a new man

Everyone remembers their first time. For me, it was in the muddy fields at Brocksbushes Farm in Northumberland.

I am, of course, talking about pumpkin picking. Until the ripe age of 24 in 2022, I had never been to pick my own pumpkins in the weeks leading up to Halloween - my mother tells me I went as a youngster but I can't remember it so, for the sake of the moment, we'll forget about that.

On Tuesday afternoon, armed with little more than a fleece and a pair of wellies, I strolled up to the entrance of Brockbushes Farm in Northumberland. Even from the car park I could see the huge field covered in pumpkins, impressed that such a site was just a 20-minute drive from my flat in Gateshead.

Pumpkin patch picking has become nothing short of a phenomenon in recent years. Natalie from Brockbushes explains that the farm already sold out every entry slot for 2022 a long time ago and is bracing for the organised chaos of half term next week. There have even been proposals there by Halloween-loving couples.

Read more: 6 pumpkin patches an easy drive away from Newcastle.

Marching up to the entry, I am faced with a wall of wheelbarrows. There are orange, pink, purple and two shades of green to choose from and I break a sweat at the weight of the decision - once I take my trusty steed I can’t turn back. How am I going to choose a pumpkin from thousands if I can't even pick my pumpkin carrier?

I went for purple and wheeled past a spooky man made of pumpkins sitting on the throne guarding the entrance, you wouldn't want to be here after hours. The vast field of pumpkins greeted me with sizes of all calibre and colours from traditional orange to white, grey and brown.

A lot of fellow pumpkin pickers who had come out to the farm on Tuesday afternoon were families with young toddlers. Parents had dressed the youngsters to the nines with an elite selection of waterproofs, woolly hats and baby carriers. Some even had their own blanket set up in wheelbarrows and were being carted around in style - if only they knew just how many likes the snaps taken by their parents were going to rake in on Instagram. My colleague refused to push me around the farm in a similar throne which, quite frankly, I found rather rude.

After much deliberation, I put my mind to selecting the pumpkin. There were some whoppers around the place, but I went for more of a wide and shallow shape and headed to the exit with my loot via a game of pumpkin skittles among the hay stacks. I won.

Talking to my friends about their first times, a lot share mixed experiences. I certainly left those muddy fields much more a man than ever before - you won't catch me buying a pumpkin at the supermarket ever again.