PICTURES: Autumn party for Cawdor attraction as pumpkin patch opens doors for picking season
A Nairnshire pumpkin patch has welcomed autumn enthusiasts for the second year this weekend, celebrating the season with fun activities - and even with a marriage proposal on Sunday.
The Cawdor Pumpkin Patch was set up last year by Sibby Arkell-Glover (38) and her husband Philip Arkell (37), who run an estate and a business magazine as full-time jobs, and despite a challenging year for farming, they reopened on Saturday with an expanded offer and a new woodland trail.
“We had a brilliant first weekend,” said Sibby
“Sunday was probably the best day we’ve ever done and there was even a proposal at the patch on Sunday afternoon. We carved “Will you marry me?” into pumpkins for them and made sure they had some fizz to celebrate with!
“The weather held out for us and we even had some unexpected sunshine on Saturday (followed by a hail storm which had us all laughing in disbelief as we urged customers to take shelter with us in the cafe!!).
“We had some lovely comments and feedback from people who had a great day out - it’s so heartwarming to hear that our efforts are worth it…we appreciate the kind words so much!”
The patch opened doors last year as a passion project and, despite the challenging to the farming season in the past months, this year it has doubled up from the debut.
“2023 was our debut year up here and we really didn’t know what to expect,” Sibby explained. “We poured a load of our savings into it and held our breath hoping for the best! Despite horrific weather and a lot of cancellations/no-shows we still managed to have a great first year.
“Farming has had a very tough year. The growing conditions were awful - the weather (summer failed to show up) and particularly the lack of sunshine meant we didn’t get flowers until much much too late… without flowers we have no pollinators and so in turn no fruits.
”Back in August my husband and I had a serious conversation about whether or not to go ahead - we very nearly pulled the plug on it. I’d recently had our third baby and it all felt a bit too much. But in the end, we couldn’t face it… we put in such a big effort last year and to not open would have been devastating and defeatist. We dug deep, and found some strength!
“The whole point - why we started doing this in the first place - is to give kids a space to run around and enjoy the great outdoors in the autumn.“
The patch will host pumpkin picking sessions during weekends throughout October (18-20 and 25-27) - entry is free entry but booking is required at www.cawdorpatch.com.