Bells Pumpkin Patch

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A child free visit to Bell’s Pumpkin Patch, Boston

Bell’s Pumpkin Patch is an evergrowing Halloween experience based in Bells Garden Centre near Boston, Lincolnshire.

Autumn isn’t my favourite time of year but Halloween helps make the season bareable.

Back in 2022 I was invited to visit Bell’s Pumpkin Patch in Benington, near Boston, in exchange for sharing the visit on my Instagram page. I was gifted free tickets for myself, my mother and partner for us all to experience our first ever pumpkin patch.

Not having children I wasn’t sure if this would be the visit for us but it was truly a super fun experience! All opinions shared are my own, truthful, personal opinions.

Key facts for Bells Pumpkin Patch

Bell’s Patch is based inside Bell’s Gardening Outlet

In Benington, near Boston, Lincolnshire. PE22 0EE.

Tickets must be purchased in advance from Bell’s website and, in 2023, were from £6. Tickets are date and time specific.

They are open the 12th/13th and then 19th to 27th of October 2024.

All details are correct at time of publishing but are subject to change.

The patch was fairly accessible but a lot of it is on open grassy ground so this can easily be affected by weather etc. It is quite loud and busy there.

How to find the magic

Embrace the fun spirit of the place to find the magic. Pick some pumpkins, eat some delicious food and get lost in the maize. Avoid busy times to reduce stress/overwhelm or if you can just try and go with the flow. There will be loud noise, lots of people and long queues.

What is new for 2024?

New for 2024 includes

• New, different photo displays (these change every year)
• More funfair rides including the big wheel, electric yachts and hoopla
• New garden games including ‘Splat the Pumpkin’
• An intriguing new design to the maize maze-don’t get lost!
• Different food options and new menu items from returning caterers
• A welly wash area to wash off muddy boots before heading back to the car

What was new for 2023?

I was lucky enough to be invited back to the patch for a second year in a row. This time mum and I arrived early (10.30) to a bustling patch. This time however we ate around 11 which meant we were first in the queue for delicious, hot fresh pizza from Dough and Barley. As well as two delicious iced coffees too!

New for last year included, but was not limited too.

• new photographic displays including Wednesday VS Barbie
• more, bigger, rides in the fairground
• a pumpkin shy
• pumpkin games such as a pumpkin derby and tic-tac-toe
• more hardstanding which means less mud
• better set up of the Makers Market and food area.

Our first visit to Bell’s Pumpkin Patch

We followed a road marked closed from Sibsey but also helpfully full of pumpkin patch signs (turns out the road works were scooped to the side for the weekend) to arrive at Bell’s Pumpkin Patch, greeted by car park staff and alot of parked cars. It was already past 12 and the queue to buy pumpkins at the Garden Outlet till was already massive. However wind your way past this (you’ll have time to explore the gardening outlet after) to a small shack and smaller (but still busy) queue to be admitted.

We were invited as part of a PR event so we collected our golden VIP wrist bands here. We also received a a ticket to fire Harold (more on that later) and were told where to collect the rest of our tokens and tickets.

Entrance and Photo Opportunities

As you enter you work your way through multiple very clever photo opportunities. These were very popular so we didn’t manage to capture them all. But there was an impressive range from insta worthy neon lights to pretty princess pumpkin carriages. My partner spotted old crates with dates (60’s, 80’s and 2000’s) and was very impressed with how long Bell’s must of been around.

If you miss these photo opportunities there are more as you head into the patch so don’t worry too much. These vary from selfie areas, to wooden cutouts to bell’s angel bike which is pretty cool!

You then make your way through a tunnel to the wide gaping mouth of a pumpkin and finally arrive at the “patch”.

Wow.

That was my first reaction. I don’t know what I was expecting but definitely not what we arrived to! It’s huge with so much to do! Not just for children but adults too.

First up we went to the ticket booth and collected our fairground tokens, carving tickets and tractor ride tickets. We booked the first available slot which was 2.30. This gave us just under two hours to explore everything else the patch had to offer. We were there from just after 12 till just after 4.30 and were exhausted by the end of the day.

Fairground

The fairground was new for 2022.

We overheard some dads excitedly talking about how impressed they were with it and how it was a great addition which shows just how popular it was. The rides here were perhaps the most miniature I’ve ever seen. Definitely young children sized but totally adorable and vintage (great if you are into photography). They did also have some games as well as an intricate musical organ. We all had a go at the ball and bucket game where my partner won a pumpkin (which you collect at the end) so he was a happy chap.

2023 sees the introduction of more games and bigger fairground rides.

Makers Market

Next we headed to the makers market. As it was lunch time the outside food stalls were incredibly busy and loud (there is loud music being played in this area which can heard across the park so be aware). So we headed into the tent which houses a wide range of changing crafts people. When we visited there was a wood turner, a print shop, a potter and more all selling a wonderful selection including lots of pumpkin themed crafts! There were also artisan food suppliers in the tent including, when we visited, Brockleby’s Pies from Melton Mowbray, Project D Doughnuts (the biscoff was particularly delicious) and Jackalope Joe Coffee Co (whose delicious Spalding roasted coffee went beautifully as a Oat Milk Cappuccino-regular milk was available too).

Circus Skills and Face painting

We sat outside to enjoy our coffee and doughnuts on the benches and watched the circus skills demonstrations. Here people of all abilities were being shown how to do various things such as diablos by the clowns. There was also a large queue to get an adorable piece of pumpkin face art. In this area was some other activities, aimed at children, such as bales to climb on and fall (safely) off, a tug of war rope and space hoppers with a large pumpkin shaped bouncy castle.

Maize Maze

Next it was time to enter the maize maze. In the maze we followed various paths to find the boat in the centre. Some paths were full of people and in some we had some tranquil moments of peace surrounded by nothing but maize. According to the website the maze has a jubilee theme, but perhaps this has changed since the queens passing as when we visited it had a definite sea theme with mermaid coves, sea themed facts and pun-tacular jokes.

Pick Your Own Pumpkins

After this it was time to visit the two pumpkin patches where you could take a barrow to collect the pumpkin of your dreams-big, small, green, yellow, orange, lumpy, stripey-the choice was yours. We loved the fact that they seemed to of actually been grown there (rather than just arranged for the sake of it). There were still vines twisted across the field some complete with flowers and more baby pumpkins

Sadly we did see some unruly children smashing pumpkins which did spoil the atmosphere for us temporarily but generally there was enough space to spread out. Later on we did see some security checking out the patch and presumably monitoring the situation.

Be sure to check out the singing pumpkins in the shed between the patches for a spooktacular singing sensation.

Tractor ride

Finally it was time to take our tractor ride. So we headed over to the trailer and handed in our tickets. As we were warned it was a bumby ride as we turned corners, toured the farm and even headed out on to the road. En route we went near the target for Harold, as well as learning more about Bells. Did you know that over a million pumpkins are grown on site?! It was all very interesting but I was left a little green at the end! If you want to find out more on your tour be sure to ask questions or you can just sit back and enjoy a woggly ride!

Food

Next it was time to hit the food stands. My partner opted for loaded fries with pulled pork from Oh La La Loaded Fries. Whilst we shared a delicous fresh goats cheese pizza from Dough and Barley complete with iced coffee-caramel and peanut butter! Everything was fresh and delicious!

Pumpkin Canon

At long last we went over to Harold. My partner had been looking forward to this all day after hearing all the countdowns on the speaker. Here Bell’s are raising money for Lincolnshire charities with the country’s biggest pumpkin canon-named Harold! The aim here is to press the detonator and hope to hit the target. Our pumpkin was caught by the wind and flew off to the side. One had hit the target the previous day. When you are on the tractor tour you get a real up close look at it as you are positioned between the two as one is fired… but hopefully not in the firing line!

Pumpkin carving

Finally there was only one thing left to do, pick our pumpkins! We used the handy boxes to check their price and head over to the pumpkin wash before carving. The pumpkin carving area is a large tent with tables perfect for making a mess and not having to clean it up. As it was getting late we decided to take our carving kits and carve them at home. But this would be perfect if you did have messy kids!

Its not over yet

After you leave the pumpkin patch via the exit you still have a chance to explore the Gardening Outlet. This has been turned into a massive store with everything you could want for Halloween. They also have a pumpkin and squash emporium with every type of squash and pumpkin you could think of available to buy with information cards on each so it was really interesting to wander through this section slowly. There were also some more pumpkin displays here too.

So is there enough for an adults-only only visit?

Whilst a lot is aimed at children, Yes it is worth a visit to help you feel young, try some delicious food and snag some photos for the gram! We can home exhausted, happy, full and with some good-looking pumpkins. I can’t wait to see what they do for Christmas!

As well as Bell’s Pumpkin Patch there is a host of other things you can do as an adult to get in the Halloween mood. From movie nights to feasts there’s something for every ghoul this autumn!