I’m so pleased we were able to squeeze in a trip to do some pumpkin carving at Hughenden Manor today. It was a great way to round off a very exciting half term. It’s also one of my favourite National Trust properties.
Hughenden Manor was the home of Benjamin Disraeli, once Prime Minister, but also had an important role during the Second World War. Today you can visit part of the house, gardens, and extensive grounds. They also run some really fun events for families. Last year we went along to one of their Apple Days, this time we wanted to go pumpkin carving!
As soon as the children saw the sign they wanted to go straight away and carve pumpkins. I think this may be their favourite thing about Halloween! I’ve never seen so many pumpkins in one place and there were some wonderful volunteers who made the event really special.
Some volunteers were outside carving the most amazing pumpkins. Us adults wanted to find out more but the kids just wanted to get their hands on a pumpkin so in we went to the old kitchen. Everything was laid out so the kids both had their own pumpkins and were soon scooping out the insides and carving their designs. My 6 year old opted for two lightsabers crossing each other (yep, he’s Star Wars mad!). My 4 year old just wanted a scary face.
They both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. After they had cleaned themselves up, we labelled their pumpkins and left them to one side to collect later. Then we were able to relax a little! We explored the house, had a cup of tea and let the children run around in the woods to burn off some of their energy.
We had a lovely time and judging by the amount of people there, we weren’t the only ones. One of the volunteers mentioned Father Christmas may be visiting in December – fingers crossed we can go back soon [edited – booked to see Father Christmas!].
Linking up with CountryKids
those first pumpkins are stunning, great detail and look amazing.
Nice to see the kids enjoying the pastime, and the run around after wards is nice to do while the weather is still nice. Great to get dry days this late in the year #countrykids
One VERY talented pumpkin carver there! We’re National Trust members too but are yet to visit Hughenden Manor xx #CountryKids
Those pumpkins are amazing! We joined NT this year but haven’t visited Hughenden Manor-one to add to the must visit list 🙂
#countrykids
What a lovely day and those pumpkins with the intricate faces were pieces of art weren’t they! What a great idea to host a pumpkin carving activity – the kids must have really enjoyed themselves 🙂 #countrykids
Wow, those pumpkins at the top look incredible!! What a work of art! Looks like a wonderful day out, yay for visiting FC too!! #countrykids
That’s amazing and so much fun. We did our carving at home, I’m afraid they didn’t turn out as fantastic as those 🙂 #countrykids
It’s amazing how much fun kids have carving pumpkins. I have to say all of mine have done at least two each this year. All the better when the mess isn’t littered over your own garden and you have help on hand with the tricky carving process. No wonder the kids loved it. It looks like lovely ground to enjoy at any time of year, though I’m already looking forward to your Christmas post from here!
I hope those pumpkins will be lit up tonight! Happy Halloween.
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Those pumpkins in your first picture are rather spectacular, are they real? I have never thought of carving pumpkins like that! Not that I could create anything of the sort! This looks like a fun day. I imagine Father Christmas will be great too – the NT have always put on a good show at the locations we have seen him! #CountryKids
Oh wow those pumpkins are incredible! We never got round to carving ours this year! Though Boo got to carve one with her grandma so she didn’t miss out completely! #CountryKids
The National Trust always run some amazing family friendly events and we try and go to as many of them as possible. Pumpkin carving at Hughenden Manor sounds great fun! I’m a bit of a history geek so I’d love to go here and see where Disraeli lived. #countrykids