Pumpkin Picking at The Hayloft
- Jennifer Kozyra
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Pumpkin Picking at The Hayloft
When Pumpkin season is here, and The Hayloft in Widnes, Cheshire is the perfect place to celebrate. Nestled on Sandy Lane Farm, it’s a charming family-friendly spot with everything you need for a fun autumn day out. You’ll find a huge pumpkin patch filled with all kinds of shapes and colours, a spooky maze, a ride on the Whitefield Miniature Railway, and friendly Galloway cows Bella and Viola to feed. When you need to warm up, their café offers hot chocolate, cakes, plus hearty breakfast and lunch options.
Top Info
📅 Open daily from Mid Sept to End of Oct for Pumpkin Picking
🕐 10am – 4:30pm
🎃Free to Enter Patch
🎃Pay for what you pick
👻Spooky Maze £3,50 each
🚂 Whitfield Miniature Train
☕ Café serves breakfast, lunch, snacks
🍦 Cheshire farm ice cream
🪑 Indoor and outdoor seating available
🐐 Meet farm animals and feed the cows
🛝Undercover children's play area
🌍 Sandy Lane Farm, Sandy Lane, Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 3XP
To read more about The Hayloft click to read my review here
There’s something truly feel good about the start of pumpkin season, and this weekend we kicked things off with our very first trip of the year — to The Hayloft. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day for it: a gorgeous, sunny morning spent in the fields, surrounded by bright autumn colours and rows upon rows of pumpkins just waiting to be picked.
Pumpkin Picking in the Fields
The patch itself is huge, filled with pumpkins of every shape, size, and colour you can imagine. From tiny orange ones perfect for table decorations to enormous whoppers that need two hands to carry, the variety is amazing. What makes it extra special is that you have to pull them straight off the plant, seeing exactly where they’ve grown, and then load them into your wheelbarrow. There’s something really wholesome about proper pumpkin picking like this.
Best of all, entry is completely FREE, you only pay for what you pick. Prices range from around £2 for the small pumpkins to £15 for the massive ones. It’s great value, and perfect if you’re like me and want a little variety without breaking the bank.
The Spooky Maze 👻
After filling our barrow, we decided to try out The Hayloft’s spooky maze (£3.50 per person). Inside, you have to hunt for letters hidden around the maze to solve a riddle. The scarecrows scattered throughout definitely added to the atmosphere. They’re more “spooky” than scary, so it’s a good balance for families. That said, at one point my daughter absolutely jumped out of her skin when we turned a corner and were face-to-face with one! It definitely kept us on our toes and made the letter hunt even more entertaining.
At the end, if you manage to solve the riddle, you’re rewarded with a packet of Haribo, a sweet little prize that made it all the more fun.
Feed the Cows
We also couldn’t resist buying some food for the cows for £1. To our surprise, we were handed full corn on the cob to give them, and as soon as we walked over, the two friendly Galloway cows, Bella and Viola, spotted what was in our hands and came running straight towards us! They literally gobbled up the corn in one bite, clearly their absolute favourite treat. Watching Bella and Viola munch away had both me and my daughter giggling, and it ended up being one of the unexpected highlights of our visit.
All Aboard the Whitefield Miniature Railway 🚂
Another highlight at The Hayloft is the Whitefield Miniature Railway, which is a fantastic extra for families. Kids and adults can hop on for a little ride around the fields. Pairing pumpkin picking with a miniature train ride is such a unique touch, and it really rounds off the whole experience.
Winding Down at the Café ☕🍰
No pumpkin adventure is complete without a little treat at the end, so we finished off with hot chocolate and cake in the café. The Hayloft offers both indoor and outdoor seating, and the menu is bigger than you would expect, with plenty of breakfast and lunch options. The hot chocolate was the perfect warm-up after exploring the maze, and the cake was a delicious way to round off the morning.
Final Thoughts
Our first pumpkin patch visit of the season was a big success. The Hayloft ticks all the boxes: a sea of autumn with a natural pumpkin field, a family-friendly maze with just the right level of spookiness, a cosy café to relax in afterwards, and the Whitefield Miniature Railway for an extra dash of fun.