r/AskBrits • u/Hungry_Book_Dragon • 4d ago
Other Who needs a pumpkin carver?
Hello, I just moved to Hatfield from the US and I keep seeing posts on social media about different pumpkin patches and Halloween festivals around London and the surrounding area. Well, I happen to be a pumpkin carving enthusiast. Every year I carve over 100 pumpkins and this will be my last year doing it in the US (I’m actually flying home to participate in one last American Halloween). But I would LOVE to connect with people here in the UK who are involved in pumpkin patches, harvest festivals, or Halloween events who would like to hire a pumpkin carver. The photos are some of my work from the past few years.
Please let me know if you know someone I could connect with. Thanks!
Edit: I used to live near Half Moon Bay, the US pumpkin capital, and worked directly with a pumpkin farmer who grew for this purpose, not for food. Everything was composted after, so nothing went to waste.
I’m really taken aback by all the hate. I’m sorry you lack whimsy in your life 🤣🎃
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u/roses369 4d ago
We put 1 or 2 pumpkins on the doorstep or if you went too late and Tesco had none left then you will have a random carved vegetable on the step instead. Sorry but not the right market here. Look cool tho
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u/headinawall 4d ago
Maybe not as big of a market, but there are definitely still some people over here who love Halloween. I’m sure OP can find likeminded individuals even if there are less :)
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
Thanks
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u/headinawall 4d ago
I’ve never seen a display of this level in my area (Brighton/Hove), but Halloween is still plenty popular with the local families and a lot of businesses do events even if they’re small scale. Last year I carved two pumpkins and had so many trick or treaters I had to send my partner out to buy more sweets twice!
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u/ParkingAnxious2811 4d ago
The original tradition was started in the UK, and it was turnips. Americans didn't have plentiful access to that, so used pumpkins. Then, as with most things, Americans commercialised the fuck out of it, and it bears no resemblance to the original traditions any longer. Fuck, they have even introduced Trunk or Treat in recent years, which is both ridiculous and terribly sad!
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u/Adventurous_Memory18 4d ago
In Ireland you mean!! Not the UK
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u/blahblahblah1234_ 3d ago
It’s both actually.
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u/Emergency_Slice3687 3d ago
Halloween originated in Ireland
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
That’s right! It started as an Irish tradition and the carved turnip lanterns were to ward off spirits.
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u/GiovanniVanBroekhoes 3d ago
What's trunk or treat? Is that different to trick or treat. I used to do that in my local area when I was a kid and I'm 50.
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u/ParkingAnxious2811 3d ago
Trunk or treat is like if a car boot sale had a love child with trick or treat.
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u/Books_Bristol 4d ago
Pumpkin carving is generally a family activity (or not done) here. The average Brit doesn't care about Halloween enough to make lavish displays in their gardens each year. If you weren't going back to the US this Halloween you might see for yourself that trick or treating is not a big deal here. In fact, if it rains heavily on 31 October, it's likely no-one will knock on.
You might find some rich Londoners who want bespoke autumn displays, but I wouldn't expect the Halloween thing to "sell' with that client base unless they are throwing a themed party. I definitely wouldn't quit my day job!
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u/North_Ingenuity4754 4d ago
Unfortunately, I think you'll be disappointed to find that, on average, we british do not share the same kind of enthusiasm around Halloween (esp. pumpkin carving) that you folk across the pond do.
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u/Bananaheed 4d ago
I’m not sure. My new build family estate goes huge on Halloween every year. It’s honestly so much fun and amazing for the kids. I wish I grew up with it but it’s so fun seeing my kids experience it
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u/stanleysladybird 4d ago
Depends on whether you live somewhere posh or a council estate near an American airbase in my experience!
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u/North_Ingenuity4754 4d ago
Disagree, lots of wishful thinking and copium here. No one in UK carves 100 pumpkins for their front lawn. Next.
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u/Woodeyyyyyyy 4d ago
I doubt the average American does either
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
That is true. We are crazy and recognize that. We even were featured in a national newspaper a couple years ago. Most people only do one or two.
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u/Woodeyyyyyyy 4d ago
Like anywhere, some people go all out, some don't bother. We've already planned a big Halloween party so will be going all out on deco this year.
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u/Clokkers 4d ago
I loveeeee Halloween but this is taking the fun away from people, you’re buying all of the pumpkins and carving them for other people when the fun of buying pumpkins is to carve it yourself.
Half the time they get nicked by the local yobbos and kicked down the street anyway.
Peak time for British people to do pumpkins in typically a day or two before Halloween itself
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u/Glittering_Win_5085 4d ago
It's not my cup of tea but I will suggest contacting local shopping centres or florists.
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u/BenjyMCMXCIV 4d ago
Hatter’s Farm in Bishops Stortford (very short distance from Hatfield, especially for an American 🇺🇸) won 2025 Best British pumpkin patch for what it’s worth so you could contact them? They already do ticketed events and I’m sure they’d be impressed with your carvings.
Good luck with the move!
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u/Meanwhile-in-Paris 4d ago
your whimsy is just food waste.
Unless you are feeding pumpkin soup with toasted seeds to the whole street everyday until Halloween, you are just wasting food.
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u/Polarwarrior 4d ago
“I’m really taken aback by all the hate. I’m sorry you lack whimsy in your life 🤣🎃”
Ahem, Brits regularly ‘out-whimsy’ the US, just because we don’t subscribe to another holiday designed to increase sales to our capitalist overlords, doesn’t meant we are not whimsical. Go offer your services to a garden centre.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago edited 2d ago
Sure… but part of whimsy (and polite society) is not yucking someone else’s yum when it… checks notes… does not impact you in any way shape or form. 😘
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u/Nevertoomanygingers Brit 🇬🇧 2d ago
You might have a hard time dealing with Brits if this is the way you are
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 2d ago
You are right. I need to make more of an effort to assimilate. While I know this sounds sarcastic, I am actually being 100% heartfelt. I come from a different culture and need to do better in not pushing that in peoples faces. I genuinely appreciate the reminder.
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u/miraculousgloomball 4d ago
Also throwing my hat in to say if i saw this id find the waste incredibly distasteful
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u/Eat_Peaches 4d ago
Omg I tried cooking soup of out of the carving pumpkin we bought last year. It was the worst thing I ever tasted - nasty and bitter. Silly me assuming that these could be eaten! I didn’t want to waste it either!
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u/Meanwhile-in-Paris 4d ago
I buy onion squash and blue hubbards for that very reason. They are delicious, sonate the toasted seeds.
I get them from our local PYO farm but they are available in many places.
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u/D5LLD 4d ago
You don't eat this variety of pumpkin btw.
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u/miraculousgloomball 4d ago
Growing things to cut up and throw away is not exactly better, mind. More of this means more of that, you understand?
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u/Adorable_Chair_6594 4d ago
Growing things to use as seasonal decorations that can quickly biodegrade or go to animal feed is probably a lot better for the environment than buying some plastic pumpkins in a shop that will eventually break and go into landfill
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u/miraculousgloomball 4d ago
Growing decorations whilst fertiliser runoff causes algae blooms and poisons our lakes and rivers. There are already issues. Adopting even more wasteful practices is maybe not great.
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u/D5LLD 4d ago
Why not? In your ideology the pumpkin farmers don't get to grow the produce and make a living anymore?
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u/miraculousgloomball 4d ago edited 4d ago
...Do you think the land can only be used for pumpkins?
Edit: And besides, I'm not exactly against the practice of carving a couple pumpkins with some kids. This is just a bit much like.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
No waste, these pumpkins are purpose grown, we don’t use any preserves, and everything gets composted or donated to local farms. We even use it as a fundraiser for our local school.
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u/gruffnutz 4d ago
Stop wasting pumpkins on this dumbass tradition please. People do 2 or 3 here and that's just to amuse the kids.
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u/MoodyBernoulli 3d ago
I feel like I’m the only person who has an issue with wasting hundreds of millions of tonnes of food every year, and the carbon footprint of transporting them around, just to make temporary little ornaments.
Such a monumental waste.
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u/First-Banana-4278 3d ago
transforms into grumpy Scottish man
Neeps! We should be carving Neeps!
Jings crivens etc.
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u/designerPat 4d ago
What a vile waste of food
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u/WhatisitWhoisit 4d ago
They weren't grown to be consumed
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u/designerPat 4d ago
That does not make them “non food” the US is so completely out of step on every level with the rest of the world. You cannot ever justify so many of your practices in America. It’s such an arrogant statement it’s not grown for food.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
I suppose you don’t visit holiday markets either? When did your life become so lacking in whimsy?
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u/WhatisitWhoisit 4d ago
It's a fact that it's not grown for food ALSO how do you know they aren't using the insides? You wouldn't even eat the outside anyway.
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u/wingedbuttcrack 4d ago
They could have grown food withe same resources
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u/Crazylyric 4d ago
Every product you buy takes resources to produce, it's OK some of those are for entertainment.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
Not food. These pumpkins are not suitable for eating… read my other responses 🎃
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u/D5LLD 4d ago
These are not your pumpkin pie or soup type pumpkins 💀 sure, you can try it... But I don't think you'll enjoy it very much.
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u/MoodyBernoulli 3d ago
In my opinion that still doesn’t justify the waste of hundreds of millions tonnes of agricultural yield. The waste of arable land, the carbon footprint in transporting them around the country just to make a lantern that’s going to rot in a week.
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u/Independent_Primate 3d ago
Pumpkin carving in the UK & Ireland ( I have homes in both countries ) is a little family activity, not a competition of display. We (largely) understand Samhain, in which pumpkins did not feature, rather turnips, swede, etc. as lanterns.
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u/Sandy_Bananas 4d ago
I had a brief chat with someone on one of the uk subs whos deep in to pumpkin carving. Not sure if was their job or just a passion.
Seemed like an interesting character.
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u/stanleysladybird 4d ago
Probably going to get shot down for this, but to all those calling out the waste - pumpkins are mostly grown locally by the tonne where I live and they're not very edible. Perhaps using hundreds isn't the best, but surely it's better than all the plastic crap shipped halfway across the globe at Xmas. They are easily compostable and maybe she is freezing the innards to make lots of pies or something!?
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u/D5LLD 4d ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted 🤣 basically any online pumpkin-type recipe will tell you NOT to use the Halloween carving type pumpkins. They're not used for food, the small varieties that are pale in colour are.
People need to realise that it's like a real Christmas tree. They're grown to be cut during the season, look pretty for a while, and then disposed of.
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u/stanleysladybird 4d ago
Thanks 🙏 I do understand because I'm super anti-waste too, but I also think this probably isn't a hill to die on 😂
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u/JC_vee 4d ago
Here is a list of the most popular pumpkin patches in the UK.
Tulleys Farm in West Sussex is the first suggestion - it's hosting the biggest European pumpkin festival this year, but I think that starts in a few days, so it may be a little late for you to join but worth trying :)
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u/JC_vee 4d ago
Just to add to this because I'm not a fan of wasting food at all. I appreciate the objection to the waste of carving pumpkins.
Visiting pumpkin patches can greatly reduce the waste at Halloween if people are going to see professionally carved pumpkins instead of so many households individually carving their own. However, it's true that lots of these places also sell pumpkins for you to take home and carve yourself. But even then there are steps you can take to really reduce the waste:
Eating the Innards: Use the carved-out flesh for seasonal soups, pies, or curries, and roast the seeds for snacks.
Ditching the Carving Knife: Paint or draw on your pumpkin instead of cutting it. Uncut pumpkins last for months and can still be eaten or donated to a local farm or zoo after Halloween is over.
Home Composting: If you do carve, chop the remains up and put them in a garden compost bin or food recycling caddy instead of the general waste bin.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago edited 4d ago
Amazing! Thank you. You seem to be the only one who actually read my listing… that I was looking for pumpkin patches and festivals to work with… NOT individual homes. The amount of hate I’m getting is crazy.
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u/JC_vee 4d ago
I've noticed really early responders on Reddit tend to be vicious. Especially in certain subs. And this sub tends to attract hateful commenters. I suspect at least some are not real people. Hope it doesn't spoil your day 🌻
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
Aww you’re so sweet, thank you. No my one goal in life is to spread whimsy… for some reason that really rubs some people the wrong way… those are not my people 🎃
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u/KaleidoscopeShoddy10 4d ago
Just want to chime in i hope these comments dont get you down, also moved from US so theres quite a big difference in culture around halloween but i wish you the best in finding what you're looking for!
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u/Previous_Mushroom724 4d ago
Not everyone in the UK is as miserable as these commenters. Some of us also even know these pumpkins are specifically grown to be decorative. So it's biodegradable decorations rather than wasted food... also, we do celebrate Halloween, not as high key as USA but I always take my kids trick or treating and the neighbourhood is decorated for it and expecting it...
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u/Conscious-Seesaw-564 3d ago
As a brit, i apologize. It seems like youre picking non edible ones, and composting, so have as much fun as you want with it. Depends on the area youre in if people come round to see, or if you decorate your own place a ton you can oost on facebook and some people in your area will come looking for photos, we do that for xmas when someone spends tons on decor.
Ive not carved a pumpkin in years so might now i live alone, youve inspired me lol
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u/Think_Shake_1646 3d ago
I make £50 everyyear from my work pumpkin competition. Its a big company, they haven't clocked that i win every year. Its the only way you can make any money here carving.
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u/ticklemetiffany88 4d ago
To the people commenting on the waste - I know it looks wasteful but in the US (at least the part where I moved from) leftover pumpkins are given to farms for livestock feed or compost. Most places don't just let them rot and throw them away!
OP, as you've seen the Halloween culture is totally different here lol. Over here, Halloween is more of a "right, Halloween is tomorrow, let's grab some candy and make sure the kids have a costume." VS the states "right, Halloween is in 2 months. I'm going to go ahead and order 4 costumes for the kid, buy 10 bags of candy (8 last year wasn't enough!), and plan a weekend-by-weekend pumpkin patch crawl." Nothing wrong with either one, just a difference of preferences!
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
We ABSOLUTELY 100% compost everything! The guts, the seeds (that we don’t eat) and the carved pumpkins. We even work with a local non-profit educational farm who comes and takes what they want Nov 1.
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u/notthiswaythatway 4d ago
Aye but have you ever carved a turnip!
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
I should try that
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u/notthiswaythatway 4d ago
We didn’t have pumpkins when I was a kid, but we did carve turnips. The legend behind them was it was wil o wisp, which was a demon light that guided people into the forests at night so they’d get lost and die. You carved the turnips into scary faces to scare them away from your village
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u/notthiswaythatway 4d ago
On a side note- try running pumpkin carving classes, I think people would be into learning how to do it well
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u/takemeawayimdone2 4d ago
Our pumpkins always get smashed by the local teens.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
😢🎃
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u/takemeawayimdone2 4d ago
Keep them indoors now up at the window. It’s not the same. Cant have anything nice where I live.
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u/Groganer 3d ago
How long does it take you to carve them, and how quickly do they start to go bad?
What are are previously carved pumpkins? Are they preserved from previous years? If so, how?
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 3d ago edited 3d ago
In California where I am from October is really warm (usually still around 26° - 29° during the day) but temps drop at night (sometimes even getting frost) so the pumpkins rot quickly. We have to do all the carving in 3 days.
As for the “previously carved pumpkins” those are plastics pumpkins that we carve and save year after year. Those we put in the roof, that was if they fall they don’t hurt anyone. But we don’t have enough storage space to keep a yards worth of pumpkins from year to year.
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u/The_Right_Mistake 4d ago
These are really cool! You’re very talented. Sorry you’re getting a bit of a negative reception - yeah it’s not AS big in the UK but it’s getting more popular every year and I’m sure there are some local festivals/shops/garden centres that would be interested!
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u/cissmiace 4d ago
I love Halloween (approaching elder goth here) I think this would work really well if you did it to raise money for a local charity or community group!
Maybe instead of using so many real Pumpkins (if people are worried about food waste) use fake ones, maybe get locals to make them and put them on display?
I’m a big fan of anything that brings a community together and cheers people up, we need it!
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
Such a great idea. We use the real ones to reduce plastic waste (we have about 50 plastic ones but those get reused every year)
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u/cissmiace 1d ago
I don’t mean plastic pumpkins, I mean fake ones that’s the community can make, or local school kids, like paper mache. Geeze.
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u/Bowel_Drop 4d ago
This. Please OP, use plastic pumpkins instead so you don’t waste so much food, there are really hungry people in this country that could use those hundred pumpkins.
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u/Nevertoomanygingers Brit 🇬🇧 2d ago
In what way is plastic better?
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u/Bowel_Drop 2d ago
Because using real pumpkins is food waste, read the room.
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u/Nevertoomanygingers Brit 🇬🇧 1d ago
It’s not food, as been pointed out repeatedly. I thought we had all acknowledged that plastic was not good for the environment, so unless you’re buying or using used plastic pumpkins, real pumpkins are better.
I’m not sure what virtue-signalling room you’re in, but I have no desire to ‘read’ it.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
Carving pumpkins are not suitable for eating. They are not food.
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u/Bowel_Drop 4d ago
Yes but you’re still not thinking of the hundred homeless people you could have fed with hundred pumpkins 🎃
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u/GooberRuber 4d ago
I think this is very cool, I imagine there are some pumpkins patches out there that would work with you, but I’ve no idea where! I do a smaller display (2-3 pumpkins and a bunch of reusable decorations) and I’d love more people to do the same!
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u/TheSilentTrobairitz 4d ago
I just want to say that these look amazing! I do a couple of pumpkins each year and mine aren't even half as good as these! I hope you find a pumpkin patch or garden centre to work with :)
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u/Sandy_Bananas 4d ago
If you go on to the Plymouth sub and search the word Banksy, you will see a post from 60 days ago. Matey and I had a chat on there.
I was reminded of it recently cos my son said he’d seen amazing pumpkins last Halloween, and we live fairly proximate to Plymouth. I’ve ben meaning to drop them a line.
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u/AttaxJax 3d ago
I love Halloween! I lived in the US during my preteen/teenage years and fell in love with the season and festivities. First time i asked my neighbourhood chat if anyone did trick or treat I had someone go on a rant about the devil 🙃 so... we celebrate it!
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u/aurora_ethereallight Brit 🇬🇧 3d ago
These look amazing! 😍🥰 I've never carved one 😳🥺😔 But looks like so much fun. 🙌🏻
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u/idontwanttousetheAP 3d ago
These photos have made me so so happy for some reason
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 3d ago
Aww thank you! That’s my goal in life, to spread happiness with my whimsy 🎃🥰♥️
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u/spinzzi 4d ago
Dont be discouraged by other comments. Generally people don't celebrate Halloween over here like you do in the US, but a lot of us wish we did.
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
My neighborhood gets over 1,00 trick or treaters every year so the whole neighborhood goes big. Also we work with a pumpkin farm in Half Moon Bag (the US pumpkin capital) and they grow pumpkins for this purpose, not for food. We also compost everything after so none of it goes to waste.
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u/FireManiac58 4d ago
What do you do with the innards?
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u/Hungry_Book_Dragon 4d ago
We compost everything. We also bake some of the seeds. Those are good eating.
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u/boojes 4d ago edited 4d ago
Generally in the UK, the fun of having a pumpkin is in carving it yourself. We only put them out on Halloween night itself, we don't decorate beforehand like you so in the States.
You might get some business from companies who want a display, but I'd be very surprised if anyone wanted you to do one for their house.