World-famous Slindon pumpkin display is back

Thousands of visitors from ‘all around the world’ came to see the display and pick up a pumpkin since this season’s opening at the beginning of this month.

The annual spectacle was created by Mr Ralph Upton in 1968 and sees visitors from across the world come to see the artistic displays.

Artist Mark Ford, 44, spent more than 70 hours across two weeks to create this year’s display, which features around 1,500 fruits depicting an airship returning from anti-submarine patrol.

Mark joined the team in 2012, the year that TV’s Countryfile visited the farm.

Mark said: "Next year I would like to decide what goes on the display."

He hinted that next year would be 50 years since the moon landing and 300 years since the conception of cricket.

This year’s display marks a century from when the Royal Navy Aeronautical Service stationed submarine scout patrol airships in Northwood at Slindon.

The display featured more than 30 different varieties of fruit all coming from the farm.

Robin Upton, who took over from his father Ralph, who died in 2009, grows more than 90 varieties on the farm, from pumpkins to the ‘humble cucumber’.

Robin, an avid archaeologist, said the event had been going ‘very well’ and added: "I really do it as a hobby and it’s worthwhile.

"We have people come from all around the world which is very nice."

The display is installed each autumn at the beginning of October and continues well into November.

The late Ralph Upton also wrote The Famous Slindon Pumpkin recipe book with his wife, Barbara, which is available in retailers in Slindon or on the farm in Top Road.

For more information visit slindonpumpkins.co.uk or call 01243 814 534

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