FARMER Palmer’s family farm park in Poole has unveiled a brand-new pumpkin patch for the first time since opening its doors 23 years ago.

The family first opened Farmer Palmer’s in 1998, after being inspired by a radio show discussing a different farm park setting up.

Having hosted Halloween and festive events each year, the farm park has now added a pumpkin patch to its repertoire of activities for families to enjoy.

With pumpkin patches and the customary family social media snaps, Sandra Palmer said it became a no-brainer to open the new area this year.

Sandra Palmer, whose family own the farm, said: “It became more of a case of ‘why not’ really, our customers asked for it and we’ve taken the idea and thought about how we could make it happen.”

The farm park has been given a spook-tacular makeover for Halloween with bunting and gigantic inflatables - there is also a non-themed area of the park for children who may get overwhelmed.

Alongside dressing up in fancy dress the staff also put themselves in the firing line for the ‘soak a spook’ tractor rides where children are given water guns and let loose.

Sandra said: “Fancy dress has really blossomed this year, we were able to get a lot of new costumes from a company down the road and the staff all really get onboard.

“A lot of our staff are teenagers and we really get the pick of the crop - since covid we’ve had at least half our team working two jobs - they’re such hard workers.”

Tailored to children up to the age of eight, Sandra explained that she tries to tailor the farm to suit every child’s needs to allow families to really enjoy their day out.

She said: “It’s fantastic to watch the little ones, their imagination and creativity at this age is incredible and it’s very easy as parents to get bogged down with the practicalities - so we love to put on something fun that everyone can get stuck into.”

With availability left only at the weekend, the event has been a near sell-out.

Despite being in the midst of hosting Halloween and half-term activities, the family-owned farm park are already thinking ahead to their big Christmas events schedule.

Throughout the festive period Farmer Palmer’s will be home to Santa’s grotto where families can go to meet ‘Farmer Christmas’ - they will also be running Twilight events after school.