Nothing says autumn like pumpkin picking - which is why we've gone and put together a list of some of the best pumpkin patches in and around Leeds and West Yorkshire.
Now October is finally upon us, it’s time to embrace those shades of burnt orange and brown as we enter into spooky season.
Before the nights start in the afternoon and it becomes too chilly outside, check out our favourite pumpkin patches to collect your Halloween pumpkins.
Bert’s Barrow
Bert’s Barrow has grown 30,000 pumpkins over the past few months and re-opened to the public yesterday. The dog-friendly farm is open to the public from 9 am until 4 pm every Thursday to Sunday The LS25 farm are urging pumpkin pickers not to leave their trip too late in the year.
“I don’t know what I’ll have left by half-term or how our car park will be”, Bert’s Barrow declared on their Facebook page.
No tickets are needed for this event. Bert’s Barrow is located in Hillam (LS25), which is around a twenty-five-minute drive from the city centre.
Temple Newsham
Temple Newsham are running a pumpkin carving workshop on Saturday 23 October to get all of the family into the Halloween spirit over half term. The event will run between 1 pm and 3 pm, but families are also invited to find the ghostly residents of Home Farm and Temple Newsam House throughout the week.
No tickets are needed for this event. Temple Newsham is on the outskirts of the city centre. The LS15 postcode is around a twenty-five-minute drive from Leeds city centre.
Horsforth's Pick Your Own
From Friday 8 October, Horforth’s pick you own pumpkin patch will be open to the general public. Located at Kemp’s farm, the event will run until Wednesday 27 October and host far more than just pumpkins.
Inside, visitors can ride in a tractor or trailer to the picking field, carve their pumpkins on-site or even choose to get into the spooky spirit by getting their faces painted.
Horforth’s Pick Your Own request that guests book their tickets online in advance, prices start from £1 for off-peak and do not include the price of a pumpkin. Kemp’s Farm is a mere thirty-minute car journey or train journey from Leeds city centre.
Image: Horforth's Pick Your Own
Redwood Farm
Head to Redwood Farm's opening weekend event either on Saturday 9 October or Sunday 10 October or join the half-term family day-trippers from Saturday 16 October until Halloween. Redwood Farm is also filming the progress of their pumpkins on Facebook, so if you can’t quite make it out this year, you can still get in the Halloween spirit from home.
There will be no bookings required and both cash and card are accepted on site. Redwood Farm is around thirty minutes from Leeds city centre, located near Wakefield.
Want some free pumpkins? Stockeld Park will be offering the opportunity to pick your own pumpkins from 23 October, but for every paid ticket, one child can choose their pumpkin free of charge. Just don’t leave it too late in the day as the last entry for the pumpkin picking is 4.30 pm each evening.
Pumpkin picking is included in the Halloween entry ticket, prices start from £15. Stockeld Park is located in Wetherby on the outskirts of the city centre. The LS22 postcode is around a forty-minute drive from the city centre.
Farmer Copleys
It’s ‘go big or go home’ at Farmer Copleys. The Pontefract-based farm has planted over 130,000 pumpkins and claims to have the ‘biggest pick your own pumpkin patch’ in the UK. Take your pick of the rainbow and find your perfect pumpkin, in twenty different varieties. From traditional orange to green, blue and even white pumpkins, each pumpkin is unique and perfect for carving later in the month.
The farm is open every weekend in October, tickets start from £4 during peak season. Farmer Copleys is around a forty-minute drive from Leeds city centre and can also be accessed from Streethouse train station (3 stops from Leeds).
Yorkshire Pumpkins
Yorkshire Pumpkins open their fields to pumpkin pickers on Saturday 16 October and Sunday 17 October for an early weekend pick before welcoming guests every day from Thursday 21 October until Halloween. They recommend bringing wellies, gloves (pumpkin plants are covered in spikes), a camera and a very strong bag to carry your pumpkin home in.
Tickets cost £1 to enter but will be taken off the price of your chosen pumpkins. Yorkshire Pumpkins is located in Lodge Farm, Cundall and is around a fifty-minute car journey from Leeds city centre. Due to the remote location, we would not recommend travelling by public transport.
Image: Yorkshire Pumpkins
Spilman’s Pumpkin Festival
Having planted over 80,000 pumpkins, Spilman’s Farm boasts to have ‘pumpkins for everyone’ across their ten-acre plot. Located on a family-fun-farm, visitors have the choice of picking orange and white pumpkins, gourds and squashes before heading to the carving barn. There are also fairground rides, pumpkin slingshots, corn cannon and indoor pick your own pumpkin tents to keep both children and grownups busy throughout the day.
The Spilman’s Pumpkin Festival will be open every weekend in October, just remember to pre book a ticket between 9 am and 3.30 pm to avoid disappointment. Spilman’s Farm is located north of York and takes around an hour to reach by car from Leeds city centre.
Want to go pumpkin pickers without the crowds? Birchfield Farm offers the ideal solution. The farm is usually known for its ice cream, but will be transforming the farm to host a pumpkin festival throughout October.
On Instagram, Birchfield told their followers:
“Our Pumpkin festival will start on 3 October 2021 and run every day till the 31st. We are so excited for this year and the pumpkins are looking amazing. We have grown lots more pumpkins and varieties from the small to the extra large, from white to warty!”
There are no tickets required for Birchfield Farm’s pumpkin festival, you simply need to arrive between 10 am and 4 pm to enter. The prices of individual pumpkins start at £1. Birchfield Farm is just north of Harrogate and is around a sixty-minute drive from Leeds city centre.
Image: Birchfield Farm
Balloon Tree Farm Shop and Café
For those searching for an understated pick your own patch, Balloon Tree Farm are open every day, waiting for prospective pumpkin pickers.
On their Instagram they state that:
“All you need to do is grab one of our wheelbarrows from the field entrance, pick any and all the pumpkins you would like, head back to the Berry Barn or Shop to pay for what you’ve picked, then return your barrow to the wheelbarrow park. It’s as easy as Pumpkin Pie!”
The Balloon Tree Farm Shop and Café is located on the outskirts of York and around a sixty-minute drive from Leeds city centre.
Feature Image: Birchfield Farm
Leeds
Giggling Squid has launched a brand-new Leeds exclusive menu – and they threw a huge party to celebrate
Thai favourite Giggling Squid launched a brand-new menu exclusive to the city- and celebrated with a huge party.
Known for its beautiful colourful interiors, tropical-inspired decor and a menu packed with fragrant Thai favourites, Giggling Squid is bringing a proper little taste of Thailand to Leeds.
And the best part? They've now brought a city-exclusive set menu for us to get stuck into.
Priced at just £31.95 per person for two courses and a drink, or £37.95 per person for three courses and a drink, the new menu is all about getting stuck into a proper feast in true Thai fashion.
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Things kick off with a choice of appetisers for the table, including prawn crackers or chilli chickpeas, the perfect way to settle into your meal.
Starters then include spicy popcorn chicken, prawn and squid lettuce cups, vegetable spring rolls and salt and pepper squid - so there's plenty of options whether you're after something fresh, crispy or with a bit of a kick.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
For mains, you can opt Thai green curry served with jasmine rice, cashew stir fry and spicy crispy pork belly.
Or, if you're a noodle lover, get slurping the yellow tamarind duck noodles or keep it classic with a pad Thai stuffed to the brim with your choice of chicken, prawn or vegetable.
And, of course, no Thai feast would be complete without something sweet to finish.
Dessert options include apple pie spring rolls, coconut pudding with mango lime sauce and Mother-in-Law's chocolate mousse.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Drinks wise you can choose any soft drink, small beer or a glass of house wine and that's all included in the brilliant price, how good is that?
To celebrate the menu, The Giggling Squid hosted a launch that transported diners to the bustling streets of Bangkok on Park Row.
We're talking free canapés, cocktails, giveaways, a DJ set from Leeds' very own DJ Dman and of course, a goodie bag for guests to take home with them.
The set menu is available until 8 November, Monday - Sunday from 4pm until close.
Sound up your street? You can book in for the all-new set menu at Giggling Squid Leeds here.
Featured image - The Hoot Leeds
Leeds
10 brilliant new bars, restaurants and cafes that have opened in Leeds recently
Clementine Hall
Leeds has welcomed a whole host of new places to eat and drink recently, and there’s a lot to get excited about.
We all love our food and drink, and it's safe to say we love writing about it.
So please, allow us to indulge by telling you all about our top 10 favourite new openings that have popped up in and around Leeds over the past few months.
But fair warning, continuing to read on may cause extreme hunger...
Rotisserie Club
22 Wellington Street, LS1 4EA
Images: The Hoot Leeds
A new rotisserie chicken spot has landed in the city centre, serving everything from full and half roasted birds all served with their crispy house dripping roasties, as well as viral chicken Caesar wraps and rice bowls.
Dip or drench your chicken in their range of sauces and you’ve got yourself something worth licking your fingers over.
From the team behind Domino Club and Roland's comes Paper Plane, your newest cocktail bar that is a love letter to an analogue time where everything was made by hand.
The interior is inspired by 1970s Hollywood and Japanese listening bars complete with music played exclusively on vinyl to match, and the menu is perfectly curated, coming alongside its own martini menu served straight from the freezer.
After multiple pop-ups around the city, Acai Social Club has finally found a permanent home in Leeds, meaning getting your acai bowl fix is about to get a whole lot easier.
And the best bit? Unlimited toppings. There's also matcha, coffee and smoothies on the menu, plus new toppings dropping every week to keep things interesting.
Tahin
10 Kirkgate, LS1 6BY
Images: The Hoot Leeds
One of the city’s favourite Turkish takeaways is back in the city and we couldn’t be happier for their return.
Formerly located in The Core, Tahiis a family-run takeaway that is whipping up the freshest dishes for you to eat on-the-go. Even at 4pm they’ve got queues out the door for authentic Turkish flatbreads Pide, Za’atar, Shawarma and more.
With fresh chicken and lamb ready to be shaved, warm, welcoming faces to greet you and prices you just can’t turn down because most dishes are under a tenner.
Alfonso's Deli
New Road Side, Horsforth, LS18 4QD
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Famed for its toasted Cuban sandwiches, coffee and stacked deli subs, Alfonso's Deli has made a name for itself for serving some of the best sandwiches in the city.
And now they’ve opened a second site in the suburbs with Horsforth providing all the good stuff we know and love it for, plus fresh bakes which they’re making downstairs - oh, and you can also get yourself a cigar.
If you don’t know about Burgerism then get to know. The cult burger brand is famed over in the North West for their juicy, crunchy-around-the-edges smash burgers and now they’ve brought them to Meanwood.
Rizia's Bottega
114 Bolling Rd, Ben Rhydding, Ilkley LS29 8PN
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Rizia's Bottega, on Bolling Road on the outskirts of Ilkley, officially opened at the end of August following a soft launch, serving authentic schiacciata sandwiches, colourful salads, and light Sicilian breakfasts.
The new neighbourhood spot comes from the team behind Ilkley favourite Emporio Italia and has been created as somewhere locals can pop in for their morning coffee, sit down for a bite to eat, or pick up some high-quality Italian treats to enjoy at home.
One of Manchester’s most popular brunch spots, which always has queues down the street, has made its way across to Leeds at last.
Bruncho has opened on The Headrow, bringing its hit products like French toasts, Middle Eastern brunches, and iced matchas, to Leeds city centre.
Bruncho has also made a name for itself with its viral creations, including Labubu Dubai pistachio French toast (how many 2025 buzzwords can you get in one menu item?) and its collection of drinks served at -86°C. We're sure that their weird and wonderful creations will go down just as well here in Leeds.
Vietnamese powerhouse Pho opened a permanent spot on Boar Lane and it's serving up the likes of beef brisket pho, crispy spring rolls, three meat combo rice bowls, and chicken curries - yum.
Mandy's Barbecue
3 Sheaf St, Leeds LS10 1HD
Images: The Hoot Leeds
A new Yorkshire barbecue spot has taken over the kitchen at The Attic near Aire Park serving up sourdough sarnies by day, with fillings cooked over fire. Expect your lunchtime to be levelled up with BBQ rump steak, Korean chicken and plenty of other local produce on the menu. Then, come evening, things switch up with small plates - including jerk mackerel, BBQ sirloin with kimchi, and lamb neck.
Sophie Smith -
30th September 2021 
