CARVING pumpkins into gruesome grins is a long-established Hallowe’en tradition, but picking your own is becoming increasingly popular, including at patches in Pembrokeshire.

Gary Rees has grown pumpkins at Brooksgrove Farm, on the Dale Road out of Haverfordwest, for the last six years since 2012.

For him, allowing families to come pick their own pumpkins to carve for Hallowe’en gives children a chance to see where these fruits of the vine are grown.

“It is something tangible. I think the simplicity is the appeal more than anything,” said Gary. “Kids love pulling the sledges around.”

At Brooksgrove, visitors are guided into a field where the pumpkins are laid out on top of crates and straw, and choose their favourites.

In past years, pickers were taken to the field where the vines themselves grew, but with the unpredictable October weather, Gary decided on the new layout to avoid slips and skids.

When he first started growing pumpkins in 2012, the rainy weather played a huge factor in the venture’s fortunes.

“The first year was a disaster!” he said. “1,500 plants and we ended up with only 40 pumpkins. But I thought I would give it another go the following year.”

Through perseverance over the next five years, the pumpkin patch’s popularity has grown, and now people travel from as far away as Cardiff and Aberystwyth to pick their own in Pembrokeshire.

Gary’s own family has never really taken to carving pumpkins themselves. “We don’t really celebrate Hallowe’en all that much,” he said,

But since the farm has become the largest pumpkin patch in the county, the family has developed a taste for pumpkin soup.

Brooksgrove Farm also grows soft fruits, and invites visitors to pick their own strawberries in warmer months, as well as flowers for Puffin Produce.

The farm has been in the Rees family since the 1950s, and after a gap in farming between the 1970s and 2000s was brought back into use by Gary.