Without a doubt, every year we head on out to Cattows Farm – several times in fact! They’re our favourite pick-your-own farm, and a fab way to while away a sunny afternoon! We love showing the kids where food comes from, on a much bigger scale than we could ever do in our garden, and farm trips for pick-your-own-ing are fantastic for this. But there are two times of year in particular, where we absolutely have to go there!
1 – Sunflower Picking (From approx. end of July)
This is a more unusual pick-your-own product, but one we wouldn’t miss! It’s on a much smaller scale than some of their other produce, but there’s a number of rows of tall sunflowers to get lost amongst. (And so much fun for Instagramming!) The farm shop has secateurs which you can borrow for a £5 deposit, and once you’ve done that, it’s up to you to make your selections! Every year we come back with a huge armful! Once you’ve had a wander, and picked some good ones, just head on back to the farm shop to pay and get your deposit back. Sunflowers are only 70p per stem, so you might even get a vase-ful and some of your deposit money back!
2 – Pumpkins (From 1st October)
Cattows Farm has a huge pumpkin patch! And I mean HUGE!!! For the 2020 picking season, they’ve planted 190,000 pumpkin, squash and gourd plants! There are free wheelbarrows available by the farm shop and small car park, so no need to worry about lugging those heavy pumpkins about! Just grab a barrow and get muddy! (Wellies recommended, because this IS a field in Britain!) Once you’ve made your choices, head back to the farm shop to weigh and pay. There’s a big selection of more unusual and decorative varieties of pumpkin and gourds in enormous wooden crates, right outside the farm shop – all sorts of different sizes, colours and shapes. (Even warty ones!) We always end up grabbing something unusual to go on display with our Halloween pumpkins! In addition to the pumpkins, as part of the Halloween offering in years past, there’s also been a massive straw-bale pyramid for kids to climb, as well as a few photo ops. Our kids think the pyramid is brilliant, and race up and down it at a rate of knots! It is quite high at the top though, so be prepared for climbing if you’re heading there with toddlers and tiny ones!
As you can see, we love Cattows Farm! Parking and farm entrance are free, and they’re open 9am to 5pm, every day. They also have strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, and redcurrants available for pick-your-own, at various times of the year. See their website or Facebook page for details of what’s ripe and ready to go! Happy picking!!!
The most important part! How to find them –
Cattows Farm
Swepstone Road
Heather
Leicestershire
LE67 2RF
A Different Way To Go 