Last year we rather fell in love with the National Trust and their special days after adventures at the bread festival and the argory, so, after scanning their calendar and consulting the BBC weather predictors, we headed back to Castle Ward for "Pumpkinfest".
Now it was advertised as a "Pumpkinfest and Scarecrow Pageant" and when we arrived, there was a huge marque for the carving of pumpkins and then a line of scarecrows for the pageant. "Line" might convey the wrong impression....there were four. Four scarecrows in a line. These were our favourites.
I suspect that Gordon's creators will be buying a few more Tesco hessian bags as the ladybirds looked very familiar. He was definately my favourite, and although we didn't bother manage to rush back for the judging...I suspect he won.
It didn't occur to me as we arrived (it never does) to bring extra cash as I'd assumed we could pay in by card. Upon discovering that this was NOT the case we wandered around the stables with rumbly tummies calculating how much of a hot dog would fill us, when we discovered that you could pay in the cafe by card...hooray!
Determined to stick with a theme, husband ordered pumpkin and bacon soup followed by a wedge of pumpkin and pecan cake. The gurgling tummies had been silenced!
On leaving the cafe we bumped into (quite literally) Beatrice's principal. It was like meeting a celebrity. Then we wandered through the craft marquee, across the courtyard and into the tunnel that led to the "Spooky Wizard"
As we waited outside his door (or the kitchen door to the cellars) his previous visitors passed us with a little boy announcing "that was so scary, I'm NEVER doing that again." Beatrice promptly demanded access to her Daddy's arms and clung around his neck as the friendly witch welcomed us in.
The "Spooky Wizard", speaking only in rhyme which was quite an accomplishment, told us of the naughty witches in one of the cellar rooms. We could hear them wailing some sort of grotesquely nasty spell. He promised that if we said his poem with us, they would magically become dressmakers dummies and cease their naughtiness.
Magically, the incantation worked and we were able to visit the three hags. Feeling much braver, Beatrice refused to allow her feet to touch the ground. She obviously felt that Daddy needed the reassurance of her arms around his neck.
Once outside she confidently announced "that wasn't scary at all!"
So then, feeling flush with cash, we took a carriage ride around the grounds...
...and bought the "Pumpkin People" treasure hunt. Bea listened to all the clues with great solemnity, as this was a very important quest after all.
There was time however, to pause to enjoy the view and give Daddy a kiss.
We struggled to read the map. Now before you mock me and my part time Geography teaching job, I will add that as we grumbled over the map, memories floated back of the terrible map of last year's "Gingerbread trail"and so we decided to walk in the general direction of the barn (ignoring the map) and look who we stumbled across!
From here, we could easily navigate our way to Spooky Sid beneath the tunnel...
...and then run along the Laurel Walk to find our next Pumpkin Person.
There was of course time for the traditional "Cover Daddy in leaves game"
As we searched for our penultimate Pumpkin Person we spotted the teeny tiny Coffee Boutique and as we lined up, we also spotted a familiar face at the front of the que.
And so we joined up with Team Nesbitt to continue our adventures
We headed back up the hill towards our final Pumpkin Person...
..but under the advice of Joshua we took a detour to the adventure playground.
...until finally finding the walled garden and a pair of very jolly wellies.
Then we had to collect Joshua's pumpkin.
Only stopping in the craft tent on the way to buy two little knitted pumpkins
Well done Castle Ward, Pumpkinfest was fab.
(As was the Whitehorse pub in Saintfield where we all stopped for tea)
