SCARECROWS, a bale maze and pumpkins galore will be open to experience this weekend as Kilduff Farm prepares for the Hallowe’en rush.

East Lothian’s own ‘pick your own pumpkin’ farm started as a way of getting the children more involved in farm life.

Co-farm owner Lucy Calder said: “We have an arable farm, so it’s a farm of big fields and big machinery so not a lot our children could get involved in, so we came up with the pumpkin idea.

“The children planted them, helped check on them when they were growing, made all the signs and everything.

“They have been really excited about all of it and they love being out there and telling our story.

“They also helped pick the variety of pumpkins that we grew this year. I think we’ve all got pumpkins on the brain all the time now!”

The farm has a special patch, with different varieties of culinary pumpkins to encourage healthy eating and cutting down on waste.

Lucy said: “Not many places grow culinary pumpkins in the area and not many people know how to cook a pumpkin. Most people carve it for Hallowe’en but that produces a lot of waste, so we are hoping to teach people how to cook it and eat it as well.

“There are many different varieties of pumpkin, some sweeter and tastier than others, though all pumpkins are edible.

“People seem keener now to buy locally grown and locally produced food, and pumpkins are hugely nutritious. There are so many health benefits for eating pumpkin.”

The farm, near Athelstaneford, has Sonia Lee, from LeeLifeNutrition, creating pumpkin recipes to inspire culinary crafts.

On top of the thousands of pumpkins, this year will see a return of the hay bale maze, scarecrows, information boards on how pumpkins grow and photo opportunities.

It will also welcome the new sweet addition of locally produced honey.

Lucy said: “We now have 17 beehives on the patch to try and help pollinators and the environment, as well as producing our own honey, which will be for sale.”

The pumpkin patch is open from today (Friday) to Monday and again from next Friday (October 25) to next Sunday (October 27), between 10am and 4pm.

It will only be open if there are pumpkins left to sell, so check social media for updates.