Halloween: Pumpkin pickers enjoy bumper crop

Ava Rose Patel and her younger sister Violet haven't left any room for pumpkins in their wheelbarrow at The Pop Up Farm in Hertfordshire

The scorching summer of 2018 wasn't just good news for sun worshippers - it also provided the perfect weather for pumpkin growing.

And with Halloween just around the corner, it seems more of us than ever before are rolling our sleeves up and picking our own.

Social media has been abuzz with photos of gourd-lovers getting to grips with these crucial Halloween props.

Apparently a buggy wasn't enough for this man at Undley Pumpkin Patch in Lakenheath, Suffolk

Of course the dogs have got in on the act...

...but Gordon setter puppy Charles would probably prefer to chase smaller balls at this farm in Bednall, Staffordshire

Farmer Richard Simkin grows several thousand pumpkins for people to pick at Essington Farm in Staffordshire.

He says the pumpkins are "very weather sensitive".

"They had nice warm weather which they like," he said.

"They were a bit short of water so we had to irrigate them most days."

Alice Greenwood-Wilson (left) and her friend Kerry Parvin show off their prized pumpkins at Kenton Hall Farm in Warrington

Six-month-old Gunner Luke Stockton and his sisters Isla-Beau (top left) and Piper-Blu enjoyed a day out at Essington Farm in Staffordshire

His top tip for making them last?

"If you want to keep it for longer than a few days then it's important you keep the stalk on. If that is removed it creates a wound which rots.

"And if you want to keep it then don't carve it because it only has a life off about three to four days after it's carved."

This pumpkin picker could be auditioning for a role in the next Halloween horror film

Sally Jones and her daughter Ella were surrounded by pumpkins at Llynclys Hall Farm in Oswestry, Shropshire

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Not sure anyone at West Midland Safari Park will be telling lioness Amber that she has taken their pumpkin

P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pick up a pumpkin

Of course for those who don't want to pick their own, there is always this pumpkin stall at Borough Market in London

Impressive efforts from everyone, now we just need to work out how to lift this monster pumpkin grown by twin brothers Ian and Stuart Paton.

It weighs 174 stone (1,105kg) and is the heaviest ever grown indoors in the UK.

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