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In north Suffolk one pumpkin patch is bucking the trend. Growers at Fen Farm near Bungay supply all the pumpkins for the Bungay Halloween Festival which is quickly becoming one of the biggest in the county.

Johnny with his friends and the pumpkins

While other growers in the UK are lamenting their poor harvest, the young farmers here are delighted with the crop.

What's their secret? Well despite the lack of sun and too much rain, the patch has been well fertilised with local cow manure and they use the seeds from the biggest pumpkin from last year to sire the latest batch.

He's proved to be a good choice for a 'father'. One of the growers, Johnny Crickmore says: "A nine and half stone whopper called Thomas was the big daddy of most of these pumpkins around me.

Johnny loads up the pumpkin harvest

"This year has been difficult but we believe we may grown our biggest-ever pumpkin. We think it could weigh as much as my father, about 11 stones."

It would be the greatest achievement for the growers after 27 years of using this patch of marshy ground. The pumpkins will now be carved into a variety of faces and horrific scenes, ready for the big night in Bungay later this month which attracts thousands of people and is free for the public.Μύ

For the last three years residents have lined the street where they live with carved pumpkins on Halloween night.

"Each house has a pumpkin delivered, along with a night light and then they are lit when it gets dark" says Dorcas Shepherd, who's a resident from the area.

"As it is a particularly old street it looks absolutely wonderful! Last year we had about 70 pumpkins lining the street, this year we hope to have a hundred."