GOOSEBUMPS, Pot of Gold and Jack O’Lanterns are popping up thanks to the green-fingered skills of two school friends.

David Grant Suttie and Alex Humphreys have turned a fallow lockdown period into a productive season by turning their hand to growing pumpkins on David’s family farm at Balgone Estate, south of North Berwick.

Instead of lamenting the impact of Covid-19 on their studies and social life, the university students began researching how best to fill their time and stumbled upon the idea of growing pumpkins as a diversification project.

Now, six months on, the thousands of pumpkin seeds have flourished into a pumpkin patch bursting with a variety of the colourful fruit.

With a bumper crop to harvest, the budding entrepreneurs have launched Balgone Pumpkins and bookings are flooding in, with families looking for a fun day out in the countryside.

Former Loretto pupil David, who is now reading economics at the University of Glasgow, said: “The last number of years, we have expanded our network of public paths around the estate linking to the John Muir Way and during lockdown we saw numbers of visitors increase significantly, with lots of young families enjoying coming to the estate.

“We have really enjoyed the technical side of growing the pumpkins as well as the creative side such as designing the Spooky Lake Trail and making the signage as well as building the website.

“We have also linked with local quality food suppliers so we can showcase the food producers from the region.

“It has been very much a steep learning curve, with lots of support from friends and family – all we need now are people to come and enjoy what we have created.”

Balgone Estate is a host farm for the charity RHET (the Royal Highland Education Trust).

Now David, 21, and 22-year-old Alex are hoping that their lockdown project will be the start of an ongoing diversification plan for the farm that has been in the family since the 1700s.

Alex, who spent lockdown with David and his family, was only too pleased to take the pumpkin project forward.

The business with entrepreneurship student at Edinburgh Napier University said: “Although I didn’t grow up on a farm, I have taken to growing pumpkins like a duck to water!

“It has been challenging, especially with the dry spring, which meant that we had to water the seedlings twice a day for weeks on end.

“I have a new appreciation of how hard farmers work and how a simple procedure isn’t as straightforward as it first seems.

“It is important that those of us who aren’t close to food production gain an understanding of what it takes to put food on our table and how supporting our farmers by buying locally and sustainably is so important. Lockdown has allowed me to develop a new-found respect for those farming families who work so hard to feed us.”

Balgone Pumpkins is open October 16-18, 23-25 and 30-31. Pre-booking is essential.