We are slap bang in the middle of spooky season.
Up and down the country, families are scrambling the get the pumpkins purchased, so the halls (and front steps) can be decorated with Jack-o-Lanterns in time for Halloween next weekend.
Over the past few years, many American-style pumpkin patches have popped up all over the country come October, but this year, due to many of these having to limit entry numbers due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, families are finding that tickets can be hard to come by.
If this is you – and your kids are all sorts of heartbroken over not getting to pick their pumpkin from the patch – I have discovered a destination that just might help remedy the situation.
Last October, I had purchased tickets for our usual pumpkin patch in Meath, but then October – and new restrictions – rolled around, and suddenly we found ourselves locked inside our county again – in our case, Dublin. So the trip out to Meath had to be cancelled.
Luckily, a mum in my daughter's classes tipped me off about
Windyridge Garden Centre in Dun Laoghaire, and to remedy the whole no pumpkin patch fiasco, we headed straight out.
And boy am I glad we did! Because while it was no pumpkin patch per se, the garden centre was a total Halloween wonderland, decorated with pumpkins (that you could purchase, of course), ghoulish ghosts, giant spiders and so many gorgeous decorations to purchase, let's just say we didn't just walk out of there with pumpkins and nothing else.
As well as that, there was a stall selling hot chocolates and candied apples, adding to that pumpkin patch feeling, and so many gorgeous props to get some sweet (and spooky!) family photos in front of too.
And to my little boy's delight, out the back of the garden centre, they have the most amazing wooden treehouses, that were open for the kids to climb into and play in – and so it's needless to say that at least an hour was spent doing this before we could even attempt leaving.
And look – I know we were there for the pumpkins and the Halloween vibes, but if you are a keen gardener, Windyridge, which, as it turns out is an award-winning and pretty well-known place, is no doubt worth a visit for that alone too.
