Yes, Dalston’s beloved pumpkin lantern festival has been cancelled for 2026’s spooky season. But there are plenty more gourd-tastic events taking place in the capital this autumn – and, if you look just beyond the M25, there’s even more frightful fun to be had.
For those willing to travel, the AA has just revealed its ranking of the best pumpkin patches in the UK for 2026, and the top spot is just outside London. To find the best patch, the AA crunched the numbers on 370 patches across the country, scored each one out of 100 based on several factors including Google review scores, Instagram hashtag popularity, entry prices and whether the pumpkins are actually grown on-site (rather than imported from a wholesale warehouse).
After all that, the AA crowned in Takeley, Essex, the best pumpkin patch in Britain. Not only does Hatter’s grow its own pumpkins, it had by far the most Google Search volume (135,000 in October) and a great Google Review score of 4.8.
Hatter’s Farm is a real wheelbarrow-and-welly affair. Visitors grab a barrow and traipse through fields packed with over 100,000 pumpkins across more than 75 varieties, from knobbly heirloom types to giant show pumpkins and tiny ornamental ones.
Hatter’s isn’t just about the picking, either. There’s a seven-acre ‘maize maze’ to get lost in, a ‘pumpkin cannon’ firing squash at a Halloween target range, a ‘haunted mad house’ for anyone after a scare, and a ‘bale mountain’ to clamber up for views of the farm.
Entry to Hatter’s Farm is £5.36 for adults. Find a full list of dates (and how to book) on the Hatter’s Farm website.
Getting to Farm from London
Hatter’s Farm is near Bishop’s Stortford, just off the M11 and close to Stansted Airport. It takes roughly an hour from London to drive, depending on traffic.
If you’d rather not drive, take a train from London Liverpool Street to Bishop’s Stortford (around 40 minutes), then a taxi or local bus for the final stretch out to the farm. The Central Connect 305 bus runs from Bishop’s Stortford through Takeley.
The AA’s best pumpkin patches near London
Here’s the full list, in map form.
As you can see, Hatter’s Farm wasn’t the only highly rated pumpkin patch near London. Hitchin Lavender, which placed sixth, is around an hour and a half’s drive from the capital. You can find out more about the AA’s report here.
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