A Day Out at Hatter’s Farm

Hatter’s Farm is a local pumpkin patch that has the best prices when it comes to pre-booking in Essex! We went along last year and had to go again this year in our pumpkin adventures, as it’s known to have a large variety of squash, and we were looking for some pretty specific produce to eat up. Hatter’s Farm does have a lot of different and unique aspects to their farm, which our children really enjoy!

Pumpkin Cannon at Hatter’s Farm

Probably the most unique thing at Hatter’s Farm is their pumpkin cannon. In a large field, they have set up various targets, and you can use a giant cannon to blast pumpkins at them! We ended up going late in the season last year, which meant they were out of pumpkins and only had onions – but we did not make the same mistake this year. It’s an additional cost to use the pumpkin cannon, but it is one of those memories you’ll never forget. The staff there does a great job at explaining how to use the cannon and giving you sound proof earmuffs as well, which is great for younger ones who may not like the noise.

Haunted House

This year, Hatter’s Farm added a unique haunted house to their farm, though it was more like a corridor walk. Outside the area, there is a story board talking about animals becoming evil, and challenging children to count the number of evil animals they find within the walk. There are some spooky decorations throughout the walk, and lots of different triggered noises that can give you a bit of a jump. It’s still appropriate for all ages, really, with the evil animals being animal cut outs with red eyes! Robin quite enjoyed running towards them and pointing them out. It’s nice to have a haunted house that isn’t too scary at all.

Hatter’s Farm Pumpkin Patch

Hatter’s Farm actually has more than one pumpkin patch, so there is plenty to pick from. Their main one, inside the gate, is beautifully presented with all of the pumpkins perfectly spaced out. These are your traditional orange pumpkins, with a good amount of stem on each one. If you keep going, by the giant chair which is perfect for taking pictures, you will find another huge pumpkin patch! Judging by the signage, this patch seems to be very popular for their night event, where you can bring a flash light to pick a pumpkin at night. There is also a tall lookout / photo point, where you can see the entire field, and a few other decorations scattered around. This large field is equally as well maintained, making for a great pumpkin picking experience.

Maize Maze and Bale Maze

Hatter’s Farm has a free bale maze as well as an add on price Maize Maze in their field this year. The bale maze is small and simple, great for toddlers who want to get some energy out and go through a maze without the commitment of the surprisingly huge Maize Maze. The Maize Maze has a letter finding aspect to it, where you are looking for 11 letters to spell a spooky word. If you find them all you can be entered in to win a huge pumpkin. We love corn mazes, so dove right in. This maze is surprisingly large, with lots of circles, dead ends, and so many letters. They have actually colored the different letters so you do not end up doubling back on yourself over and over. This ended up taking up quite some time, as the girls would go one route with Kai going the other, to see if they would connect. Or playing rock-paper-scissors to decide which fork to take! In the middle of the field there is another lookout point, which you would think would give you a good idea on where to go next, but didn’t for us! Deadends are also worth exploring, as they often have some of those hidden letters.

It is also worth noting that by this area, there is also a giant bale pile – like a pyramid – that kids can climb up and jump down. It gives you a great hill to spy the corn maze on! There is also a face painting bit of Hatter’s Farm, which we didn’t really check out, as well as a food truck. The real highlight though, are the massive amounts of squash that you can find. There are signs around the squash area that tell you all about these squash, including how to cook them, which was very interesting to myself and Dann.

We had another great year at Hatter’s Farm and really enjoyed all of the new additions to the farm. It feels as though they have tried to do more and more each year – and succeeded with their little additions this year.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!